Altered Life
by vintagegirl
Summary: It's been years since the Charmed Ones worried if Wyatt would turn evil. Now, Chris and Wyatt are all grown up. Now, Wyatt's evil pastlife decides to catch up with him in the form of a very pissed off and very powerful girl. FINISHED.
1. Don't Be A Stranger

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. I do not own them since they are from the television show named Charmed, etc.  
  
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Wyatt entered the manor and kicked off his shoes. He'd just had a long trying day, and surprisingly for once it hadn't included some form of evil trying to kill him or even revert him. It had been his first day of work at a real job.  
  
He walked past the sitting room where Piper and Chris were preparing for Chris's graduation that was later that night. Piper was standing beside Chris checking his red graduation gown for any wrinkles and brushing off any cotton balls she found . It was Chris's high school graduation night. The biggest day of Chris's life according to Piper and she'd made sure that everyone knew it and that they would be at the Manor that night to be there and support him.  
  
Wyatt had had his graduation the year before and it had been like any other day to him so he didn't understand the whole uproar over Chris's. But, of course, Chris was the baby of the family so they would all spoil him.  
  
"Mom, what's for lunch?" Wyatt asked leaning against the sitting rooms door and watching her as she ruffled down Chris's gown for the millionth time. He could see the gradual irritation that Chris was feeling at being picked and prodded at. He had to admit he enjoyed every minute of it.  
  
"So, how do you think Chris looks?" Piper asked stepping back and giving Chris room to breath.  
  
"Uh, good I guess. Nice gown, Chrissy." he replied, knowing that Chris's old nickname would annoy him just as much as Piper fussing over him like a child had.  
  
"Alright you. I can see that you are not going to be encouraging. Just go to the kitchen and eat. I made sandwiches. They're on the counter." Piper told him as she went back to surveying Chris.  
  
"Mom, come on this is embarrassing," Chris whined.  
  
She laughed and put his red cap on his head and took a picture, "I'm your mom and this only comes around once in a lifetime so get over it. I just hope that we can all enjoy this day without any supernatural influences."  
  
Chris stood in front of her in irritation with his arms crossed in front of him as the tassel to his cap waved crazily around in his face. "Are you done yet? Cause I still have a few hours of freedom left before everyone gets here."  
  
"Oh, fine. Geez, you'd think that someone would be excited that they're graduating high school."  
  
"You obviously don't remember high school," Chris replied, instantly taking off the gown and cap and went to place them on the back of the couch. He was almost home free.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, young man. No putting the graduation gown on the couch. Now, go get a hanger to put it on so it doesn't wrinkle."  
  
Chris rolled his green eyes and sprinted up the stairs to find a hanger and to get away. Piper shook her head and then went into the kitchen for her next victim. Wyatt leaned against the counter eating a sandwich. He hadn't gotten a plate to put it on. He just ate it there with a carton of milk beside him to drink from.  
  
"Do you need to breath?" She asked as he gulped down the rest of the sandwich and went for another one.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop bickering, mom."  
  
Piper grabbed a bottled water from the fridge and came over to him. Sometimes it was hard for her to even think of him or Chris as being grown up. She still saw them as her baby boys. It would be really hard when they decided to leave the manor and go out into the real world on their own. She didn't doubt that was what Wyatt was starting to do now by getting a job.  
  
"Alright, spill. How was your first day at work ever?" she asked.  
  
"It sucked."  
  
"Details please." she replied, offering him a chocolate chip cookie which he took.  
  
"I just don't get why I can't work at P3 as a bartender. It'd be so much easier on everyone if I was there since I wouldn't have to keep making up excuses to my boss about where I was when I hunt demons with you." he tried.  
  
"Nice try, Wyatt. But you can't. You're underage. It's against the law."  
  
"Yeah, so. We could use some kind of spell to make sure no one ever realizes it," he tried again.  
  
"Nope. That would be personal gain. I don't want to even hear it," Piper scolded.  
  
"Come on, mom."  
  
"Wyatt, we all have to deal with the real world sooner or later. You get to deal with it now by having a job that you hate. We've all been there. It's hard sometimes and sometimes it's downright aggravating, but you'll get through it," she told him softly then she gave his arm a quick squeeze and smiled. "Tomorrow will be better."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Wyatt muttered and started for the hallway.  
  
"Oh, come on. Was it really that bad?" Piper asked following him.  
  
"I'll handle it," Wyatt told her as they came to the staircase.  
  
"Sweetie, you know we're all here for you, Especially me, your mom, who you tend to avoid usually with all your problems."  
  
"Sure, whatever. Don't worry about it, mom." Knowing that she wouldn't give up so he easily he changed the subject, " Look, it's Chris's graduation. I think I am going to go torment him while I still have the chance."  
  
"Brotherhood, I'll never get it. Go on. Do it before you lose your chance to, but no glamour. And try to keep him in one piece," Piper warned.  
  
"Glamour?"  
  
"You heard me, mister. No changing your brother's hair to bright green or turning him into a frog. I intend to take pictures of this event and I would like Chris to look normal in all of them," Piper said with her hands firmly placed on her hips.  
  
"God, mom. What kind of sick, twisted, warped mind do you think I have?" Wyatt asked, innocently as he slowly started up the stairs. A fake bravado about him as he stopped smiling mischievously at her.  
  
Piper shook her head and waved her finger at him, "You heard me, mister."  
  
"Yeah, thanks for those great ideas mom," he yelled as he started a sprint up the rest of the stairs.  
  
Piper shook her head and started towards the kitchen. Whatever Wyatt did he better undo before graduation, or she would make sure he was sorry. Sure she couldn't punish him by grounding him anymore. He was too old for that and he wouldn't listen to her he'd orb somewhere else, but she could give him a taste of his own medicine.  
  
It was then that there was a loud explosion.  
  
Piper had enough time to turn around to see the two front doors flying in at her. One knocked into the other and was set in another course into the sitting room but the other hit her head on. Wyatt having only reached the top of the stairs heard the explosion and he flew down the stairs just as fast as he'd made it up them.  
  
"Mom?" he yelled.  
  
He couldn't see her. All he saw was one of the front doors lying on the floor. Mom was no where in sight but he knew that wherever she was she was hurt. He needed to heal her. There was no way that one of the doors hitting her wouldn't be a lethal thing. He started forwards towards the kitchen where he felt her.  
  
Out of no where, a bolt of electricity hit the wall beside his head stopping him from going anywhere. Instead, he had to turn and see who or even what evil had thrown the lightning bolt at his head.  
  
He turned to face them head on. Ready for an attack to come from a pack of demons, warlocks, dark lighters even, but he never expected what he finally saw coming through the threshold in the glinting sunlight.  
  
A girl the same age as him came slowly striding into the house. She was dressed all in white looking like an angel. An avenging angel.  
  
"How about a taste of your own medicine? Door!" he yelled. He threw the door that had flung itself into the hallway straight at her. It flew straight at her, but within seconds of hitting her she mimicked his movement and threw the door to the side.  
  
His attack had barely fazed her.  
  
"Clock," he said grasping for something else to stop her path.  
  
She was walking underneath it as it started to fling itself down on top of her, but she just waved her hand again and it righted itself against the wall and starting chiming the hour.  
  
The girl smiled capriciously at him and shrugged her shoulders, "Is that the best you can do?"  
  
He backed up a few steps. The whole time her slow stride hadn't even been broken. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. She should have been defeated by now, but instead she was deflecting all the things he threw at her. No one had ever been able to withstand his powers.  
  
At that moment, Chris came barreling down the stairs towards them. He had heard the explosion and was coming down right into a war zone. Silently, Wyatt cursed his brother for being stupid enough to come running down the stairs while they were under attack. Not only was he going to be in sight, but he had barely just learned how to handle his telekinetic powers. He'd get hurt if the girl caught him.  
  
Chris saw the girl and quickly used his telekinesis to throw her against the wall. She hit the wall with a thud. Instead of using her telekinesis to do the same back to Chris like she'd done to Wyatt she threw a blue-white bolt of electricity at him. It hit Chris before he could even deflect it and he stood in place on the stairs as the bolt took on a life of its own and starting charging all over his body.  
  
Wyatt had had enough. He had to save his family from this girl. He had to go to his last resort. He summoned an energy ball and threw it straight at her. She hadn't expected that one. She'd been getting up to attack him again but the energy ball had stopped her. It had hit her right in the stomach. She went down instantly.  
  
Wyatt stayed in place in the center of the hallway. He had another energy ball in his hand and he was ready for her to get back up and attack him. He was expecting her to be like someone from the night of the living dead. Someone who would never die but keep coming back from death. When she didn't get back up, he took a long held breath.  
  
It was over.  
  
Just as he turned to figure out a way to stop Chris's torment, Chris flew down the stairs straight at him. He hit him squarely and they both flew onto the hard wood floor. Chris moaned and slowly rolled off his brother giving Wyatt a moment to breath. He looked at his brother as he slowly got up checking to see if there was anything wrong with him. The electricity bolt was gone and Chris was fine. Her powers must have died with her he realized.  
  
"Ow," Chris mumbled as he tried to get up.  
  
"You okay, Chris?" Wyatt asked giving him a hand. His younger brother nodded at him as he took his offered hand. Wyatt still surveyed his brother as they stood. There didn't seem to be any visible sign of damage that the bolt could have created.  
  
"Are you okay?" Chris asked, staring down at the girl lying crumpled on their floor a few feet away from them.  
  
"Yeah... She didn't hurt you?"  
  
"Uh, no. I think she was just trying to stop me in my tracks," Chris said touching his chest in surprise. "What the hell was that about?"  
  
"I don't know. But I wouldn't mind finding out. Cause she was strong."  
  
"You can say that again." Chris took a breath then asked, "Where's mom?"  
  
They both rushed into the kitchen where Wyatt had last seen his mother going towards.  
  
She laid on her side underneath one of the front doors that had caught her in the explosion. It hadn't caught her in the stomach thankfully. She was unconscious, but still breathing. A few minor cuts were over her face and arms from the stained glass that laid all over the floor around her.  
  
They both quickly took the half of the door still lying on top of her off.  
  
"That was one hell of an entrance," Chris said kneeling beside his mother with Wyatt.  
  
"Yeah. At least she's alive."  
  
"She'd better be. She's got a graduation to attend."  
  
Wyatt ignored Chris and quickly started to heal his mother. He should've came after her to make sure she was okay before he'd started battling with the girl. It was just pure luck that the door hadn't killed her.  
  
His mom was going to be angry.  
  
Not only did he go up against a demon.. witch.. whatever, but half of the house had been destroyed while doing it. She was going to have a field day trying to find two new front doors and trying to explain what had happened to the old ones she needed replaced.  
  
Piper opened her warm brown eyes and slowly sat up. Her dark brown hair was in clumps in her face from coming out of the bun she'd worn it in, "Do I even want to know why I was just hit by the damned front door?"  
  
"No, but you'd better find out because she took a lot of power to destroy," Wyatt answered, taking his mother by one elbow as Chris took the other and they helped her to her feet.  
  
"Mom, are you okay?" Chris asked, worriedly.  
  
She stood a little wobbly on her feet, "Yeah, I'm fine you guys. I'm just getting too old for this kind of thing. Wait a second. Wyatt, you had trouble vanquishing one girl?"  
  
Piper was completely surprised by this.  
  
If it had been Chris she'd understand because he had always been reluctant to kill with his powers. He was also still coming into them on his own and his telekinesis was still bothering him a bit to learn.  
  
Wyatt, on the other hand, got his powers and understood how to use them almost instantly. It was such a godsend that he learned so quickly because once he'd get one power down pat it almost seemed like another one was just popping up out of no where to replace it. Wyatt not being able to defeat a demon so easily was almost scary.  
  
"Well," Wyatt said softly. She could tell he was having a hard time admitting he wasn't as powerful as he thought he was.  
  
"Wyatt!" Piper cried.  
  
"Yeah...I don't know how she could be so powerful. She bested me with almost everything I threw at her and she paralyzed Chris with an electricity bolt."  
  
"Hey, you guys," Chris called from the hallway. "She's still breathing!"  
  
Piper quickly started panicking. Her sisters weren't even home. Only Wyatt and Chris were there. She would have thought they'd be strong enough to vanquish anything that came in, but right now she guessed not.  
  
"What? But I threw an energy ball at her. She should be dead!" Wyatt cried.  
  
"Well, she's not dead. If you don't believe me come and see for yourself." Chris replied, defensively.  
  
"Oh, I think I am getting a migraine. No, forget thinking I am getting a migraine." Piper said grabbing the kitchen counter in her dizziness.  
  
"Mom, calm down. You have to worry about two now remember. You can't risk hurting our baby sister now, can you?" he asked steering her over to the kitchen table to sit down.  
  
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I swear. This is just big," Piper said breathing in and out like she'd learned in lamas class to calm herself. "I just need a moment to wrap my head around this."  
  
"Are you going into labor because now is not the time, Mom. Not that I don't want my baby sister here already, but because this may not be the safest place or time for her to be born in," Chris said coming into the kitchen.  
  
"No, I'm just trying to calm down," Piper replied.  
  
"Mom, calm down. You can't help us if you're hysterical," Wyatt said, soothingly.  
  
"Hey, I'm the parent here. I worry about you not the other way around," she replied, annoyed.  
  
"We need Phoebe and Paige like now," Chris told Wyatt.  
  
"Alright, you go get them then. I'll stay here and watch over mom."  
  
"Okay. Take care her," Chris agreed and then orbed out of the kitchen.  
  
Wyatt handed his mom the bottled water she'd started drinking before the battle had started. Then, he slowly made his way into the hallway where the girl laid. Curiosity had got the better of him as he looked down at her.  
  
She was beautiful. Even he, in his worried state of mind, couldn't ignore that. She looked like a sleeping angel. Her face was so pale it looked like porcelain, and her reddish brown hair fell into it softly curling to frame her face. She looked so young and innocent.  
  
Two things he doubted that were true about her.  
  
He knelt beside her trying not to make any noise to wake her up. A silver glint catching his attention as he pulled her necklace out from under her white tank top. It was a cross like a Christian would wear made of pure silver but in the center was the symbol that was on the Book of Shadows. Why would she have this symbol? Especially, if she was fighting the Charmed Ones.  
  
"Mom," he called, "she's got our symbol."  
  
"That's weird. Wyatt, do you know her?" Piper asked, making her way over to him to see the symbol lying in his tan hand. Still, she maintained her distance from the girl warily. Better safe then sorry, she thought  
  
"No!" he cried in surprise.  
  
"Hey, don't get so touchy. I thought maybe she might be like a vengeful ex."  
  
"Mom, I have more common sense then to date a psychotic witch."  
  
"Hey, you never know, we've all dated some supernatural being or other. It's not impossible."  
  
He looked down at the symbol in his hand, "How does she have our symbol?"  
  
"I have no idea. Now, step away from the crazed witch and come here. I'm getting a bad feeling about all of this," Piper said waving him over to her side.  
  
Wyatt ignored her still staring at the necklace, "You sure you don't have anymore long lost sisters?"  
  
"Hey, that was a once in a lifetime thing. Now get over here," Piper grumbled stretching out her hand to him.  
  
"Fine," he gave up.  
  
He let the silver necklace fall back onto her porcelain skin. Before he could stand up though the girl's violet- blue eyes opened to see him and registered her surroundings.  
  
She instinctively reached her small hand up to his chest and laid it over his heart. An electric charge coming from it as he started gasping in pain. He didn't know how she was doing it, but he could feel her hand squeezing his heart.  
  
"I believe we have unfinished business," she informed him standing up with him almost feeling as if he were attached to her.  
  
"Wyatt!" Piper screamed starting across the distance to attack the girl.  
  
"Did you miss me?" the girl asked, touching his face almost lovingly with her free hand.  
  
He couldn't respond. He couldn't threaten her to get away from him or even try to knock her away. He could barely think it hurt so much. His breath didn't even seem to be coming to him. Now, he knew what it felt like to be dying.  
  
"Let my son go or I'll blow your head off!" Piper threatened the girl.  
  
"Leave us alone," the girl responded in a growl.  
  
"Not if your life depended on it," Piper replied and lifted her hands to blow the girl up, but was instantly stopped by the girl's warning.  
  
"Look, lady. I'm attached to your son at the moment. If you decide to blow me up then you do the world the same favor by taking him with me. I don't think that's exactly what you're going for now is it?"  
  
Piper let her hands fall. She felt defeated, but she wouldn't let the girl get the best of her. She was evil and Piper would find a way to kill her. No matter how human it might be. She ran into the kitchen to grab the biggest knife in there that she could find to kill the girl with.  
  
"Paige? Chris, what is taking so long?" she whispered to herself as she found the biggest knife in the kitchen. 


	2. Hurry Come Running Back To Me

Chris had decided to get to Paige first.  
  
She was the one with the best active powers that Wyatt and his mother needed to survive. Besides, Paige was at the magic school where he could easily orb in and not scare all the children to death while Phoebe was somewhere in a public office where people would notice the orbing human and most definitely panic.  
  
So, he'd chosen Paige.  
  
He quickly orbed into her classroom knowing there wasn't time to spare.  
  
He saw a few students look up curiously as him, but the rest of the class was more interested in the two twin blond girls in the front of the class. There they were finishing up on their oral presentation on how to successfully make it in the real world.  
  
"And so, the best way to make it out there in the real world," said twin number one dressed all in light blue.  
  
"Is to conceal your magic from the normal people so that it will never be exposed. Otherwise, the Cleaners will be paying a visit to your house and will most definitely wipe out your existence," the second twin dressed in dark red ended the speech for her twin with a toothy grin.  
  
Once she was through the class laughed a bit at the thought of the Cleaners ever coming after them.  
  
The first twin in light blue smiled at him, "Hello, Mister. Why are you here?"  
  
"Paige!" he called trying to find her.  
  
She popped up out of one of the children's seats in the front of the class and smiled at him. She was pulling all her grading sheets together as she got up to meet him. "Oh, Chris. How sweet of you to come."  
  
Paige saw his serious face and stopped, "What's up?"  
  
Chris covered the distance to her and pulled her aside so that their backs were to the classroom. All the girls looked up at him fondly having their first crushes on him as he whispered intensely to Paige. "We have a problem at home. A serious problem."  
  
Paige nodded instantly serious, "Okay. Class," she replied as she turned back towards the children who waited curiously to find out what she was up to, "I want you to read the next section in your witches almanac. Be prepared for a pop quiz when I get back."  
  
The class groaned in unison.  
  
"Come on. Come on. Quicker," Chris pestered as Paige started towards the classrooms doors.  
  
"Look, buddy. I have to tell Mrs. Berda that I'm not here so that she can watch my class. Then, I'll be right there."  
  
"Well, hurry. We have a demon to vanquish at home and I don't know how long Wyatt and Mom can keep it at bay." Chris warned instantly orbing away from the Magic School in order to find Phoebe.

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"Is it all you ever dreamed of and more? Tell me how it feels to die by my hand?" the girl with the fiery reddish-brown curls asked. She had not relinquished her hold over his heart.  
  
Right now, she felt it speeding inside his chest trying to keep the blood flowing to every section of Wyatt's body. Soon, it would give up and just explode inside of his body. She couldn't wait to feel his last breath, or even his last heartbeat before he gave up his life to her.  
  
"Let. Me. Go!" he choked out kicking her in the stomach to force her back away from him.  
  
It almost worked, too. Her hold over his heart had loosened for a moment in which oxygen and blood moved freely through his veins. He felt dizzy for the moment he'd been free as the blood rushed in his body to all the veins she'd been blocking it from. But his freedom didn't last long.  
  
A second later she had a hold of his heart again, and this time she placed even more pressure on it. Her eyes slit in anger as she watched him start to crumble all over again. She would not let him get another chance to hurt her.  
  
She smiled, "I'm assuming you have forgotten what you did. What you are still doing to me, haven't you?"  
  
She saw his confusion spread over his face like a disease through a person's body. Anger battered her shields as she threw him against the wall. Anger at having her conscience to answer to if she killed him in cold blood without letting him know exactly what he'd put her through.  
  
She wouldn't let him get off that easily with his ignorance of the past.  
  
Piper came out of the kitchen seeing her moment. She sprang forward at the girl ready to stab her with the kitchen knife if she got the chance to. Piper ignored looking at her son struggling for breath against the wall. If she paid any attention to him she would lose her chance to kill the girl and the girl would kill her instead.  
  
The girl looked at her baffled almost confused at why Piper was even coming after her. It took Piper aback for an instant as she sprang at her.  
  
The girl took a few steps back. "I'm not here for you, you idiot. I mean no harm to you or your daughter," the girl yelled at her.  
  
Piper didn't change her attack. She was only a few steps from the girl when the girl waved her hand yet again sending her power out at Piper. It hit Piper squarely in the chest, but instead of knocking her over like Piper had expected she felt an icy chill spread through her body.  
  
Panic ran through her as she saw the ice start to form over her hands and run up her arms.  
  
In instants, Piper was engorged in ice. Right at that exact moment Paige finally orbed into the Manor from the Magic School. She orbed in right in front of her sister and was able to see the ice sculpture that her sister now had become before ice sculpture Piper fell right on top of her.  
  
Paige went down hard with Piper right on top of her.  
  
Paige stared up at her sister's frozen face of shock. Great, she thought. I'm stuck under a pile of ice. Just great.  
  
She couldn't even orb out either. If she did she had a feeling that the instant impact with the ground that Piper would have would shattered her. Then, she wouldn't be able to save her sister.  
  
She tried to move Piper a little bit off her so she could move towards the demon and try to see what was going on to see if she could use any of her magic to help Wyatt battle it, but it didn't work.  
  
Instead, she was stuck underneath a very heavy Piper and out of breath.  
  
They were in a mess.  
  
"Chris? A little help here!" she cried out in panic.


	3. Revenger

The girl stood over Paige and a frozen Piper and stared down at them.  
  
Paige stopped moving underneath Piper and froze, but not quite so literally. Paige wasn't usually susceptible to fearing anyone she ever needed to vanquish, but the girl standing in front of her was definitely creepy.  
  
The girl had a strange expression playing over her hauntingly beautiful face that not even Paige could figure out. At first, she'd expected the girl to just finish them both off with her powers.  
  
It would have been easy for the girl; it would have been child's play.  
  
Paige knew that the girl had to be considering it. If she'd been in the girl's position she would have done the same thing. She'd already taken out Piper. Paige now was an easy target.  
  
Paige tried not to let the girl's attention drift towards the knife that Piper sill had frozen in her hands. If the girl did notice it then she would be screwed. Paige felt her life passing before her eyes as she struggled against the large icy mass of Piper.  
  
She knew that if the girl really wanted to she could just use her magic to shove the knife that was already lightly scrapping Paige's abdomen straight into her body. Hell, if she didn't want to even use her magic all she had to do was put her foot on Piper's icy back and press her weight down in order to get the knife in her.  
  
It would be a quick and easy killing.  
  
Paige was half tempted to orb the clock over top of the girl and just let it smash into her head. That was if the clock was still where she thought it was.  
  
She didn't though. The expression on the girl's face stopped her. Her violet-blue eyes were so sad and yet so angry looking down at Paige. Paige look around for something to quickly use to get at the girl but was interrupted.  
  
The girl suddenly shook on her feet.  
  
Paige knew that Wyatt must have tried to bash her into the wall to distract her from hurting them and she felt a brief relief rush through her body as she watched the girl's attention drawn back to Wyatt.  
  
Wyatt had succeeded in drawing the girl's attention away for now, but Paige knew that he was getting weaker by the moment. If she didn't find a way out of her dilemma then Wyatt would die.  
  
Sadly, Paige didn't know how long Wyatt would last especially at this rate with the girl not showing any real weaknesses to either of them. For all Paige knew, the girl could be just as indestructible as Cole had once been.  
  
The girl was turned back towards Wyatt in full force of her power giving Paige another chance to call her nephew, "Chris," she tried calling.  
  
Where was that he?  
  
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Chris heard Paige calling and mentally tried to work harder on Phoebe.  
  
Of course, she wasn't making it any easier on him. She didn't understand what kind of trouble they were all in back at the Manor. Also, she had somehow got herself stuck in her own trouble on the side of the highway waiting for a police officer to give her a speeding ticket .  
  
"Chris, I can't just leave the car here. If I do I'll risk exposing magic." Phoebe tried to explain to him annoyed that he expected her to do it. "And we all know what happened last time that happened."  
  
She did have a point there.  
  
The cop would come up to the car to give its owner a ticket and there would be no owner there to receive it. Plus, there wouldn't be any explanation on how the owner got away from the car without the cop seeing it. The cop would end up trying to find the cars owner and it would lead him to the Halliwell's door.  
  
Which wouldn't be a simple touch and go situation if the homicidal manic of a girl was still at the house trying to murder Wyatt. Worse yet, the officer could end up dead because of it.  
  
But Phoebe was desperately needed at the Manor. Chris had a feeling she was needed more now then when he'd left by the insistent calling from Paige. It was enough to make a person go mad.  
  
He hoped Mom and Wyatt were okay. He hoped that they could hold down the fort until he got there. He hoped they weren't hurt.  
  
Chris decided he didn't care how much of a point or how much sense it made for Phoebe to stay in the car. He had to get her home somehow.  
  
"Well, if you don't come now then you may not have a place to come home to later," Chris warned.  
  
The cop behind them sprang into action finally and slammed his car door as he slowly made his way up to the driver's side of the Phoebe's car. Chris watched him swagger along as Phoebe looked behind her to see his quick ascent to the car.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Phoebe asked, quickly looking back at Chris.  
  
"Look, I don't know why, but some girl came to the Manor and tried to kill Wyatt. Point being, we couldn't kill her because she was too strong. Now, I left mom and Wyatt there alone so that I could come get you and Paige so you could have the power of three there to vanquish her, but I see you've got yourself into trouble of your own." he said, waving his hand toward the cop impatiently.  
  
"And how is this different from any other day?" Phoebe asked, exasperated.  
  
Chris gave her a look that could kill and watched the cop who was almost to the car, "We don't have time for this!"  
  
"Yeah, I know. Plus, if you stay here any longer the cops going to see you and how am I supposed to explain to him how a passenger suddenly appeared in my car?" she reprimanded him.  
  
She looked out at the side view mirror of her car in frustration.  
  
She was torn between situations. She was worried about Piper and the baby. If anything happened to them she wouldn't be able to forgive herself, but she still had the need to believe that maybe Chris was over dramatizing the situation.  
  
Either way she was stuck on the highway getting the ticket from the cop instead of at the Manor saving her family and she couldn't just orb away to the Manor with Chris no matter how drawn she was. She had to believe that the powers that be would protect her family until she could be home free from exposing magic.  
  
"Phoebe!" Chris cried.  
  
"Chris, look I know. But you have got to get out of here. I'll get there as soon as possible. I promise."  
  
He heard Paige call yet again and felt just as drawn as Phoebe. Phoebe noticed his exasperation and nodded at him. There was nothing she could do yet. At least, if Chris was gone she would be a little more comfortable knowing that some of the cavalry had arrived to protect Wyatt and Piper.  
  
"Get out of here and help them." she ordered.  
  
Chris gave up on Phoebe and orbed out of the car after giving her yet another look that could kill.  
  
He'd come for her to constitute the power of three and she was just pushing him away. If anyone got hurt or died he would never forgive her for not coming. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself.  
  
Especially, if Mom died. She'd trusted him to be able to save them and he was coming up short. He let the thoughts of death leave his head as he orbed.  
  
He had to focus on what was happening at the Manor or else he would be no help to anyone. He had to get back to the Manor.  
  
Paige called yet again as he did. This time she sounded fed up with him.  
  
He decided to worry about Paige's wrath later, and save his family now.  
  
As he orbed something happened in between Phoebe's car and him getting into the Manor. Instead of him orbing into the kitchen where he'd planned to come in at to give a surprise attack on the girl he'd ended up collapsing in the sitting room.  
  
He got up shakily. Something was off magically in the house. It almost felt as if everything magical was rearranging itself in the air. Because of this his head felt as if it were going to explode by the amount of pressure from the powers being transferred in the air. He leaned against the couch for a moment and searched the room for the reason magic was acting up.  
  
He didn't have to search far.  
  
In the hallway, a war was going on.  
  
Wyatt was limping in circles around the girl trying to match all her steps so that she didn't get any advantage over him. For a moment, Chris was proud of his brother for being so stubborn enough to not die.  
  
That was until he saw how strained Wyatt's expression was over his face. He'd expelled more magic in the day then he had ever in his life. No matter how much practice either of them had had it didn't seem to compare to this attack.  
  
Chris looked at the girl as she circled around. Her face hadn't changed at all. It was completely emotionless . She knew Wyatt was getting tired and she knew she was getting the upper hand on him. Her movements showed that as she slunk around in the circle with him like a cat preying on a mouse.  
  
She was enjoying every moment of this. He couldn't see Paige or Mom anywhere from where he was in the sitting room. An icy chill ran over him in panic as he realized this.  
  
There was a chance that Wyatt was the only one still left standing.  
  
Chris started towards the battle. He did it slowly to not cause any attention to be brought to himself. He'd felt her power before and he didn't want to deal with it again. If Wyatt was the only one still standing...which he hoped not...Then, he couldn't lose him. He had to save him somehow.  
  
"At least this time it's a fair fight," the girl hissed at Wyatt.  
  
Wyatt coughed at her sarcastically and a little bit in pain. After, what she'd just done in a matter of moments, disabling his whole family from fighting her with her strength he doubted it was a fair fight. Yet, he realized two words had not been wasted on him. She'd said 'this time'. As if there'd ever been a last time, "What do you mean this time?"  
  
"You'll soon find out," she replied, smiling.  
  
Her smile reminded him of a knife's blade glistening in the light. Almost attractive to look at but definitely dangerous to the touch. 


	4. Broken

Chris knew this would be his only chance to go after the girl and have the ability to surprise her. He also knew that he wasn't going to get off home free this time with her just freezing him in place, but he had to try.  
  
Losing his big brother wasn't an option to him. He had to do something quick and it didn't matter how unprepared he was for the consequences. If he could stop her or even distract her for long enough for Wyatt to find a way to kill her that would be enough for him.  
  
Chris came up from behind her. He signaled to Wyatt that he was going to jump into their fight and he got a very worried look in return from a tired Wyatt. They both knew it wasn't smart for him to do what he was going to do, but he had to.  
  
Wyatt and the girl kept circling each other in the endless game of cat and mouse. When she was in front of the sitting rooms doorway with her back to him he sprang at her.  
  
It was the best chance that he had. Not to mention, it was the only thing he could do. So, he pounced.  
  
"Chris, no!" Wyatt yelled at him.  
  
Chris didn't pay attention to Wyatt's warning.  
  
He was living off of an adrenaline rush. He was trying to save Wyatt and this was the only way he knew how to effectively. Plus, this was the only opportunity he probably would even get with her back being to him and her not seeing him come into the attack . She wouldn't have time to save herself like she'd had when his family had gone after her.  
  
She would be helpless.  
  
In the next minute, he had her. His hands wrapped around her throat and started choking her from behind. It was the best way to kill her. It was one of the few things he could do successfully the way they were positioned.  
  
For a moment, he felt the satisfaction of trapping her in her own game. She'd finally met her match. Let's see how easy it will be for you to live through suffocation, he thought.  
  
He clenched his fingers harder around her throat as she gasped for air in surprise. She started moving around like a caged animal. Trying to get him to let his hold down on her but he wouldn't.  
  
He wouldn't let her - a killer - go to kill his family. He wouldn't let her go because if he did she was going to go after him next and he didn't know if he had enough power to keep the charade up. So he squeezed her throat tighter to try to quicken her death.  
  
What Chris hadn't expected was for her to know any other moves that didn't include magic. One minute he was perfectly fine and he'd had her in his grasp. The next she had hold of his right arm and had flipped him right onto his back in front of her.  
  
He landed hard on the hard wood floor knowing instantly that she was going to kill him.  
  
He wanted to orb out in that instant of hitting the floor knowing his death was very soon to come, but he didn't. He wouldn't wuss out and leave his brother there all alone. He wouldn't go down as a coward.  
  
"I'm so sick of all these interruptions," the girl growled as he hit the floor. She was ready for the kill . He just knew it. And Chris was the closest one and weakest one to kill at the moment.  
  
"No, leave him alone. You want me, remember!" Wyatt yelled at her to keep her attention on him.  
  
He threw a quick burst of power at her trying to slam her against the wall again but it barely made a dent against her. She was slowly becoming immune to Wyatt's powers.  
  
Soon she'd be stronger then him.  
  
"You're right about that one," she replied.  
  
The girl looked down at him. The pressure from the fight let alone the magic wasn't even evident on her. She hadn't even broken a sweat trying to battle them. Instead, all that was left on her face was the bloodlust. Her violet-blue eyes looked down at Chris as he laid on the ground trying to quickly think of something to do. "William?"  
  
She'd said the name so softly.  
  
Her face had changed in that one word. It had almost softened . Chris looked up at her in shock at seeing the fierceness of her face change to almost reflect her soft beauty. It was like seeing a monster turn into a fairy princess. It disturbed him more then the fact that she was towering over him ready to kill him.  
  
"Who?" Chris asked, uncertainly.  
  
He had a feeling he didn't want to be in this position. He wasn't sure at all to what was going on with the girl, but her sudden transformation and her lack of attention to the world around her except for him was unnerving.  
  
He slowly started to crab walk backwards on the floor away from her. He needed to get somewhere. Anywhere as long as it was far away from her.  
  
It was then that Wyatt took the opportunity to attack. One minute she was standing above him looking like a pacified angel and the next Wyatt had grabbed her and had thrown her as hard as he could against the opposite wall. Chris couldn't help but feel relieved by the distraction.  
  
The girl came back to reality and bounced off the wall towards Wyatt. It was time for them to end it. In the time it took her to come back to reality and start towards Wyatt again Wyatt had formed an energy ball.  
  
It was evident that he was willing to use it. The girl didn't seem to be affected by the minor fact that the energy ball signified her ultimate demise. Instead, she giggled feverishly at him and wagged her finger.  
  
"Never play with fire," she warned as she covered the two feet between her and Wyatt.  
  
Her hands were feverishly shooting bolts of electricity all over the place. One hit the wall beside Chris's head and started a fire. He quickly started beating it out with the nearest thing to him. Which happened to be his red graduation gown.  
  
Both Wyatt and the girl moved together anticipating each other's attacks .  
  
Wyatt kicked her in the back of the leg, but instead of going down like he expected her to she did the exact opposite. She raised her hands towards his head. Instinctively he mirrored her movements towards hers .  
  
Both's weapons drawn as they touched each others heads. The moment that the electricity bolts shooting from her hands touched his head his energy ball touched hers and they were both flung back from each other in the collision of powers.  
  
Wyatt hit the wall of the landing on the stairs bone crunchingly hard and slowly slid down it. While, she was propelled to the wall opposite of him. Both fell to the floor unconscious.  
  
In the aftermath of the fight, the house shook dangerously. 


	5. Let's Make This Moment A Crime

Thank you everyone for your support. I truly appreciate all the awesome responses I have been getting for this story. All right, here's a quick explanation before you start to wonder if you got the right link to the right story. You've been wondering about who the mystery girl is and so now you get to find out. Enjoy.... ------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- -  
  
Victoria opened her hazel eyes.  
  
She stood paralyzed in front of the mirror surprised at what she saw.  
  
She looked beautiful. Her long reddish brown hair fell down her back in flaming curls lying over her wedding gown. She wore a long white silk strapless wedding gown that fell around her in gauzy white layers spiraling her body like icy frost.  
  
She looked like a girl from a different time. She looked like a Greek goddess and she knew it. She smiled as she touched the gown. It felt like a dream. It was one of the few times in her life that she could actually look at herself in the mirror and say to herself that she was beautiful.  
  
It was her wedding day.  
  
She had to be beautiful.  
  
She took a twirl in front of the mirror for old times sake just to see all layers of her skirt fly around her that made her look like an enchanted princess and laughed along with her older sister at her childish antics. Her twirl ended her up in front of the large bay window of her golden toned bedroom.  
  
Even from up in her room she could still catch a few excited ramblings coming from the outside world. All her family and friends were here. Almost any one she'd ever met in the whole world her family had invited and almost everyone came.  
  
It was surprising how many people she could see waiting to see her get married.  
  
Her family had set up the wedding in her own backyard. Since it had always been her dream to have her wedding there they had decided to create the perfect atmosphere for a wedding.  
  
She knew that most girls wanted a church wedding, or a big party somewhere else. They never really gravitated towards having the ceremony and the reception in their own backyard like she had.  
  
Of course, they didn't have her family's backyard. It was so large and it sprawled out for a few acres on each side. It was smooth ground so it was perfect for any ceremony. In the very center of it all was her most favorite hangout growing up, the veranda. It was the place she'd always dreamed of exchanging her vows in.  
  
It was in the very center of all the commotion for her wedding looking up over the flower garden her stepmother had planted around it. Even now as she looked down of the impending chaos she saw her fiancé walking towards the veranda to take his place.  
  
It was beautiful outside.  
  
She stood for a moment at the window letting the warm breeze blow over her face and smiled. The sun was starting to set slowly on the horizon and the lighting was just beautiful. Everything and everyone was lit in soft orangish pink hues coming from the violet blue sky setting a romanticism to the wedding that she hadn't even planned on.  
  
Small white and baby blue marble towers had been set up down at the ends of every aisle with red roses sprouting out of them almost as of they had grown there wild. The white chairs had been set up in the shape of a horseshoe around the aisle so that everyone would get a clear view of Victoria on her way down to the Mark. Small white Chinese globes lit with pink candles covered the whole yard where everyone was sitting. Up and down the aisles and all over the veranda they had even set up a beautiful pattern of white glittering Christmas lights. The aftermath of all the soft glows and warm red hues along with the sunset almost blew her away as she looked down.  
  
White and pink roses were strewn in patches crisscrossing over the white veranda's frame where she and Mark were going to say their wedding vows.  
  
And there among all the chaos stood her fiancé, Mark. He was nervously fixing his tie every ten seconds. She smiled at his anxiety and then turned away from the scene below her.  
  
Soon he'd be her husband. She'd be his wife. She'd be Mrs. Victoria Fitzgerald. It was almost wonderful but not yet complete.  
  
She couldn't wait and yet at the exact same time she felt like running away. She guessed that's what cold feet could do to a girl.  
  
She came over to the golden-white canopy bed and sat next to her sister. It was going to be the last time that they saw each other before she went on her honeymoon and her sister went off to college.  
  
She was going to miss Alexis and all her cynically dry humor that got her through the day.  
  
"So how does it feel?" Alexis asked her while she placed on Victoria's veil.  
  
It was a simple veil. It had once been a white sequined headband designed with random flowers embroidered all over its surface. It could almost pass for a crown of flowers that little girls made when they pretended to be fairies. Her mother's mother had worn the headband to her wedding and now it was her turn to where it.  
  
"I don't know. Like I'm going to explode maybe," she pondered smiling slightly like the Cheshire cat.  
  
"Really...explode how? Maybe I should stand back for this one," her sister commented as she helped her up onto her feet.  
  
"Oh shut up, Alexis. How about a little self esteem boost? Now, how do I look?" she asked getting up and circling for her like a model on the catwalk.  
  
"Like the perfect portrait of a blushing bride," Alexis told her sounding as if she were quoting a book. Then she rectified her answer after deflecting Victoria's swift blow to her shoulder, "You look beautiful. I almost don't recognize you. I sure hope Mark does."  
  
"Oh, he'd better. Or else I'm marrying someone else." she said going to the mirror and putting on her dangling silver earrings. "Oh guess what? I invited Jeremy here."  
  
"What? Why...after all that's happened."  
  
"Oh don't worry. I have a feeling that you are going to get lucky tonight and he is going to confess his undying love for you. So don't run your mouth before he has a chance and ruin it, alright?"  
  
"Victoria..."  
  
"Give him the benefit of the doubt here, Alexis. Think of it as a wedding present for me," she begged lightly as she took her sisters arm in hers and looked at their reflection in the mirror.  
  
Her sister who happened to be older had the same dark reddish-brown hair but stood a few feet shorter then her. Which had always been fun for Victoria to rub in as they grew up. Unfortunately, in random sibling attacks her sister had the better advantage at being so slight that she was faster then Victoria.  
  
"Fine...but I blame you for any scenes," Alexis replied, giving up.  
  
"Whatever you say."  
  
The wedding march started outside. She flew over to the window to see everyone in their seats turning to watch the flower girls start down the aisle. Her stomach jumped.  
  
"Oh, it's time. You ready?" her sister said coming up to stand beside her and look down on the crowd.  
  
"As ready as I could ever be at this moment. Is it alright to feel queasy all of a sudden?'  
  
"Oh, sure. Yeah. It has to be one of those wedding conditions," her sister laughed. "Wow, the almighty Victoria is suffering from cold feet. Now the world can finally end."  
  
"Alright, smart ass. Let's get this show on the road." Victoria replied with a wry face in her sister's direction. They started out of her bedroom. It was almost weird to think that she would never sleep in her room ever again. That soon she would have a new bedroom in a new house with a husband to sleep in. She shivered at the thought. Her stomach still jumping.  
  
"Victoria, I have never seen you this happy."  
  
"Really?" she asked, surprised.  
  
"Yeah, it's different. You are actually glowing."  
  
They arrived at the back door. Her father was there waiting and smiled pleasantly at her as she arrived. Her sister gave her arm a quick squeeze and then went to join the long line of bridesmaids.  
  
The last two little flower girls in their soft buttercup colored dresses started up the aisle as she took her first deep breath to calm down. It seemed to take forever for the little girls, throwing their little white petals out onto the red carpet as they walked up it slowly, to make it to the veranda.  
  
Then, her bridesmaids followed in their soft mauve colored dresses. Her sister gave her a quick glance back as Alexis realized that Jeremy was one of the groom's men who happened to be coincidentally matched up with her to go down the aisle.  
  
Boy, was she surprised. And boy was she going to kill once this was over.  
  
She looked for Mark over the descending figures following the flower girls down the aisle. He was standing there expectantly looking for her among them. He had not caught sight of her yet. She smiled and looked down at her and her father's entwined arms.  
  
Her parents had gone out of their way to give her a quick wedding. They'd wanted her to have the wedding she'd had always wanted. And along the way, they had never let her live it down that her wedding was a pain in the butt to arrange in such short notice.  
  
It had only been a few months ago when Jeremy had proposed.  
  
She hadn't expected him to. She'd always thought he would be a bachelor for the rest of his life the way he talked sometimes, but out of no where one spring night when they'd been walking down by the docks and he'd proposed to her in the moonlight.  
  
Something had happened to him that day before he'd seen her that had changed his mind about everything. Something big, she knew. But he would never tell her what. Instead he had told her that she had changed him for the better and he wasn't going to let her go. He'd been in such a moment that night he'd proposed. He'd wanted to elope right then and there and go somewhere fantastic like Hawaii or Paris. Somewhere where they could both be alone together for some time.  
  
She'd agreed.  
  
It hadn't been easier for her at the time to agree to it since she'd always had in her mind a fairy tale wedding but he'd been so anxious to get married. If anxious was the word for it. Now she looked back on it, it was more like passionate. He'd been so passionate to get married to her that he was willing to do it as quickly as possible.  
  
Of course when her parents had found out they had put their foot down and made a bargain. They'd pay for their honeymoon if they would at least wait a few months so that they could give her an old fashioned wedding at home with her family and friends present. They'd agreed. It wasn't hard for either of them to pass up a free honeymoon anywhere.  
  
Her parents had hated rushing around trying to get everything taken care of. They didn't understand her need to have a quick wedding. They didn't understand why she wanted to be married so soon let alone so young.  
  
What they didn't get was that she loved him. She had loved him since the first moment they had been in the same room together. She loved him now more then anyone she had ever been with or cared about and when he'd proposed she'd jumped at the chance to be with him.  
  
It was that and something else. It was that and another reason that tugged on her consciousness sometimes. She just felt she needed to rush in with him. She had this feeling...this dreadful feeling that if she didn't she would lose her chance to ever be happy and she didn't want that to happen.  
  
"Is the blushing bride ready?" her father asking squeezing their entwined hands  
  
She smiled looking over at her father.  
  
The smell of old spice invaded her world as she gave him a quick hug. He was giving away his baby girl today. It had to be hard for him. It had to be hard for him to wear that suite. He never wore suites he was the type to just wear jeans and a t-shirt everywhere all the time no matter what the occasion. Dressing up to him was like torture. Even as she looked at him she saw how the suite didn't fit him to well. It was too big around the shoulders and it hung limply from him giving her the impression of a little kid dressing up in his dad's clothes, but her father didn't care how he looked. He was trying to keep it together and not cry in front of her.  
  
"I'm great, dad. Nervous, happy, anxious, all of the above," she replied.  
  
He laughed at her robustly, "Good. Before you go through with this I just want to tell you one thing."  
  
"Oh, god. What now? Did the priest not show up, or the chef quit?" she joked.  
  
Her father shook his head, "No, nothing like that. It's more like.. Well...For the record, Mark is the first man you have ever brought home that I knew could treat you the way you deserve. In one glance he gives you the world every time. I'm happy you found someone that you can love."  
  
She looked over at her dad and completely surprised by his truthfulness, "Thanks, dad." she said. Looking at all the guests and the beautiful setup of the wedding she added. "For everything."  
  
She felt blown away.  
  
It had always been hard for him to admit how he felt about anyone. Let alone the man she was going to marry so it only made her day even sweeter to know that her own dad had given her his blessing. That he even believed that Mark was right for her.  
  
There were only two couples left to go down the aisle before it was her turn. She saw Mark looking around expectantly. His dark black hair gelled away from his face and his blue eyes glittering in the sunset. Her breath held in her throat as the Canon In D started playing for her. It was time.  
  
For the first time in her life she felt alive.  
  
She started out of the house with her father and down the aisle.  
  
She could see Mark's face. He was blown away. Utterly surprised by how she looked. She blushed slightly and smiled at him. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized he was crying. He was so happy. He was crying and smiling at her in the same instant. It took her breath away. All at once her nervousness disappeared. She could feel her eyes tearing up too. She wanted to just run to him. For everything to be over already and her and him to be alone. She wanted to be his already.  
  
It almost felt like an eternity before she would make it to him.  
  
She passed by everyone she knew and ever cared about in her life on her way to him. It was almost like a picture with everyone together and happy. She took one silently with her mind as she made her way to him. Only a few feet still stood between them.  
  
Everyone around her was smiling, a few were crying, and a few gave a few whoops into the air as she went by. The energy in the yard at the moment was so fierce it put her under a spell. It was really happening she was going to be married.  
  
Her father finally let go of her arm, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and left her to walk to Mark alone. She walked up the last few steps to Mark. She'd finally arrived before him. It was all surreal and so real at the exact same instant she had to catch her breath to believe it.  
  
His face was flooded with tears. He smiled at her and kissed both her hands as she stopped in front of him, "It took you forever," he said, softly.  
  
She laughed as tears started to fall from her hazel eyes, "God, I love you."  
  
And that's when it happened, when it was all taken away. The photo inside her mind was still developing. Her friends and family were all sitting on the sidelines watching every moment crying, smiling, and taking pictures of them together standing stationary at the altar with their hands cupped together still.  
  
Her father was trying desperately not to cry and her sister was crying buckets. The sun was shining its last few rays of orange light on them as they stood on the veranda and all the other lights were slowly taking over leaving a glow of wonderment to the area.  
  
One minute she was sharing breaths with Mark trying to keep the tears from coming quickly. He was staring at her holding her hands in his and pressing her fingers lightly. It was perfect. The moment that she had captured was perfect. She had never felt so safe or so happy in her life. She was with the man she loved proving it to the world and nothing should have ever taken that away from her.  
  
The priest had started the ceremony and he was about to ask them for their vows when it happened. One minute she was looking at Mark waiting to hear what he'd planned to say to her and the next...  
  
She didn't know exactly what happened. All she knew was that it was sharp. It was a sharp and a piercing silver light that blinded her from seeing anything around her. A loud cracking noise filled the air with the light and deafened her ears from hearing. She'd been standing on her own two feet one moment and the next she was flying away from Mark.  
  
She felt her body hit the side of the veranda. A few of the roses crisscrossing over the side of the verandas thorns were rawly biting into her skin and then she felt nothing. 


	6. The Very Thought Of You

Victoria stepped onto the airplane.  
  
It was the first time she had ever been on one so she was very nervous about how it would turn out. She'd come prepared though with a c.d. player and a few books to read in case she had already seen the movie that they offered. She walked down the aisles of blue seats and smiled politely at the people sitting around her.  
  
It had been her first time ever to be on an airplane so she had vied for a window seat. That way she could see everything when they took off and when they were landing. She just hoped they didn't crash.  
  
She'd ended up with window seat 12A. She couldn't wait till she could sit down and get collected before the plane took off. Her nervousness was bothering her as walked down the small aisle. She ended up right in front of row 12 there were three seats set up and already someone was sitting there. Of course, that person was sitting in her window seat. Possessiveness took over as she quickly checked her ticket to make sure she was right.  
  
"Excuse me, sir. You are sitting in my seat." she told him as she let her small red satchel drop onto the floor.  
  
He looked over at her. He had been watching all the people outside doing their jobs. It took her aback for a second as she met his brilliant blue eyes. They were so intense. She wasn't sure if she had ever saw that color blue on anyone before. They were a bluish green that seemed to change with every thought he had to either color.  
  
He was surprised by her outburst and looked down at his plane ticket to make sure he was where he was supposed to be.  
  
"Uh, actually this is where I am supposed to sit. Are you sure?"  
  
She looked down at her ticket, "Yeah, see it says right here seat 12A. I wanted the window seat so I could see the ground from the sky. It's my first time in an airplane." she told him. She realized she was telling him more information then he needed to know, but she didn't care. She just hoped the information would allow him to get out of her seat.  
  
He leaned back in the very comfortable looking blue seat and looked out his window again to see a few flight attendants directing another plane to pull away from the airport. Then he looked back at her with a slight grin exposing perfect teeth, "So, it's your first time. You're like a virgin."  
  
She gave him a look and rolled her eyes, "Very mature, Mister. Now would you get out of my seat."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"But that's my seat!" she cried.  
  
"Yeah, but according to my ticket it's mine too. So unless you want to sit in my lap the whole way there you're not going to be sitting here. Unless, of course, we can strike a deal."  
  
"What kind of deal?"  
  
"I will give you my seat if you get coffee with me as soon as we reach the next airport." He added, "Oh, and I am Mark, by the way."  
  
She looked out the window at the cloudy sky above them and laughed. This had to be one of the most exasperating situations in her life and now it was even more weird with a stranger who had stolen her seat was now trying to pick her up.  
  
She looked back down at him ready to tell him where to shove it... and he was bended down on his knee. The plane was gone and they were standing at the docks at midnight. He had a small Celtic shaped ring that he held out to her.  
  
The boats around them rocked in the clear blue-green waters and the moonlight shone down on them interfering with their privacy. She had never been so surprised in her life. Here she was with Mark and he was proposing to her.  
  
It was like a dream  
  
"Are you kidding me," she whispered a slight breeze blew around them.  
  
"Nope," he replied, grinning.  
  
"Marry you? But I thought you were a bachelor in training for life?"  
  
"Yeah, about that. I changed my mind."  
  
"Pray tell why?"  
  
"It's a secret," he said kissing her hand lightly. Then he placed the ring on her finger.  
  
"Now tell me you'll marry me before you ruin the moment."  
  
"Fine, I guess I could pencil in a wedding into my ever so busy schedule," she laughed.  
  
He burst up at her in excitement and kissed her.  
  
Rain starting falling over them as she laughed. Mark grabbed her hand to get her to the nearest safe haven from the rain. But she lagged behind. Everything in this moment was right. It was perfect. He had proposed. Something she had never expected. She'd never expected him to ever propose to anyone in his life. It would have been the happiest moment of her life, but she was so overcome with surprise that she couldn't help it.  
  
Everything was perfect except something was out of place.  
  
It was the rain. It hadn't rained when he had proposed. That night it had been cloudless and perfect. Every star shone in the sky and the moon had shone the brightest down on them when he'd proposed.  
  
Rain.. It didn't fit in..  
  
All the feelings that she had been reliving were being driven from her. All she felt was some liquid form of pain rushing through her body. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't understand why it hurt so bad.  
  
Then, she was sucked back up into reality.  
  
Victoria burst awake coughing. Rain was slicing its way down onto her body. She was already soaked all over by it. Her head was pounding as if she had one too many drinks and her body felt as if a semi-truck had run over it a half a dozen times.  
  
She stared above her for a moment not understanding where she yet.  
  
She could see a few dark clouds leaking into her field of vision along with the bursts of raindrops that were running rampant in the sky. She could see the sky in between the roses and the white boards of woods crisscrossing of each other.  
  
Where was she? Was she still dreaming?  
  
Oh, no... Today was her wedding day. Had she missed it?  
  
With the last thought she flew up into at sitting position. The world went black for a moment at her sudden actions and then her sight came back in a stilted dizzy way as she tried to breathe.  
  
The sweet smell of roses washed over her.  
  
There was a soft white glow all around her. She almost felt as if she had awoke in the center of a fairy circle that she had heard of so many times as a child. But she hadn't woke up among fairies she realized.  
  
She was in the veranda. It seemed different though. In the middle was a large hole almost shaped like a human had plowed through it. She almost wanted to giggle at how silly it looked. It looked just like one of the holes you'd see in a cartoon when one of the characters had been thrown through a wall.  
  
She felt something dripping down her face and she touched it to see blood. Now how did that happen?  
  
She stumbled to her feet giggling lightly as she did at how much she wondered she had drunk at her own wedding. That had to be it. Mark had probably passed out on the veranda too from all the drinks that they'd shared from the millions of toasts everyone had given her.. Yeah, that had to be it.  
  
But it wasn't. She turned to the side of the veranda waiting for him to be there laughing at her drunkenness. That's when it all came back. In a fit of nausea, she remembered standing there as the priest had started the ceremony. Mark had been holding her hands firmly in his hands, the priest had asked for his vows and then...there was a bright light. A piercing light that came to blind her and a shrieking noise that deafened her ears.  
  
That's all she remembered.  
  
On the other side of the veranda lay Mark. He laid against the wood wall crumpled like a doll a child had thrown in anger. His dark hair had fallen into his face and blood was pouring from a fresh cut on his forehead.  
  
Everything in her body made her not want to go to him. To not see how bad he really was. She didn't want to know if he was dead or not. It would be better if she just didn't know and pretended he was okay.  
  
As much as her denial wanted to keep her rooted to her spot on the veranda she still went to him.  
  
She couldn't leave him there alone. She inched her way over to him since every movement she made hurt somewhere new all over her body. Splinters cascaded over her legs and her hands as she crawled.  
  
Her feet couldn't carry her there. They were too wobbly to be reliable.  
  
She didn't care if she was killing herself with all the pain raining over her body just to get to him. The one person she cared about most was laying there hurt, and he needed her.  
  
Mark looked dead. His tan face was so pale now. His mouth was partially open and a thin trail of blood had escaped from it. He looked broken. She touched his chest so lightly as to not hurt him if he were still alive.  
  
He had to be alive. It was their wedding day. He couldn't just leave her there all alone on their wedding day. It had been his idea in the first place. He had to stay with her. They had a future together that he couldn't miss out on. Maybe, even a family he still needed to see.  
  
"Mark," she whispered.  
  
She could feel his breathing. It was so slight though. So soft it barely made any noise or even rose his chest. His pulse was barely there. Like a light in the fog. Barely present against her broken palm.  
  
He was still alive. That was good. There was still hope.  
  
She had to believe that someone was calling for help. That there was still time to save him. She just had to keep him awake and talking to her. She knew that if he lost consciousness he may lose his life with it.  
  
She wouldn't let him go that easily.  
  
"Mark, can you hear me? Get up. Don't you dare leave me here alone! Not now. Not on our wedding day." she cried. Her voice was raw but her meaning was till caught by him.  
  
His brilliant blue eyes fluttered. Not open, but it was a reaction.  
  
"That's it. Come on, Mark. Please, wake up."  
  
His mouth opened taking in shaky breaths. His eyes still didn't open.  
  
"Mark?" she whispered, pulling him close to her. His body leaning against hers as she hugged him close. Not willing to give up on him or let go. "Mark?"  
  
"Victoria," he sighed.  
  
"Yes," she gulped in a breath of surprise and a bit of hope. "It's me."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't know."  
  
"I'm dying," he gasped as a rage of pain washed over his body. She felt him shaking in her arms as it hit him.  
  
"No, no, no. Mark, you're here with me. You don't have to die. Someone's getting help. All you have to do is hang on for a little bit longer. You can do that for me, right. Just hold on."  
  
"Where's everyone?" he asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
She slowly looked up to see her surroundings.  
  
She hadn't even thought of anyone else. She hadn't even wondered why it was so eerily quiet all around them. There wasn't even the sound of crickets. It was as if everything had disappeared from the face of the earth.  
  
She turned her blue-violet eyes to look at the place where everyone had been sitting watching their wedding. Her perfect photograph of her wedding dying in a blink of an eye.  
  
"Oh god."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's nothing. Just hang on, okay. "  
  
She couldn't tell him what she saw. It was hard for her even to see. She still didn't believe it even though her eyes were showing her the scene. She felt as if she were trapped inside of her worst nightmare.  
  
She couldn't help but stare at the gruesome image.  
  
She felt as if she were inside of a wax museum. Everyone was still there. They were all still sitting in their places like they had been when the wedding had started. It was as if they were stuck in place. They were still. So still.  
  
A few of them were still holding cameras, a few had dried tears over their face, a few were leaning back against their chairs covering their eyes from the light.  
  
The worst of all of them were the ones that still were smiling.  
  
They were the creepiest of it all. It was such a surreal look. It was like they were trapped in place. They weren't moving, they weren't breathing, and they were all dead. Everyone there. All her friends and all her family. Dead. Somehow.. They had died with their round eyes open and staring up at her sightlessly. It was like they were being held in position with smiles on their faces like discarded puppets.  
  
They were all dead. Oh god. Alexis? Dad?  
  
It didn't take long to find them. Alexis was lying on the ground trying to block the light and Jeremy was lying over top of her trying to protect her. Her father was lying on the ground a few feet away from them twisted like an upturned doll. A smile still plastered over his pale unmoving face.  
  
Crazy thoughts ran through her head as held onto Mark.  
  
He was the only one left there alive.  
  
She felt so numb. She couldn't handle it. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a dream. It was a nightmare. She would just have to wake up soon.  
  
But as much as she tried she didn't wake up.  
  
She let go of Mark and rested him on the steps of the veranda. His eyes still hadn't opened. It was as if that took more effort for him to open them then anything else in the world.  
  
He was dying. No one was coming to save him. No one had been alive to call for help. She was losing everything she had ever wanted or known in her life in only a few moments. She was losing everything the day she was supposed to be gaining everything.  
  
"I love you." She told him softly. She traced her fingertips over his chiseled features softly. He was so cold. She could barely feel the breath he exhaled at her touch. "I'm sorry, Mark."  
  
"Don't," he gasped out as his body convulsed again.  
  
She sprang back afraid of what was happening then she took his cold hand in hers angry at herself for being afraid. And that's when he let go. He just left her to carry the burden of death alone. Without a goodbye or a happy ending like he'd promised.  
  
He'd let go. He'd given up on living. He'd left her.  
  
She pressed his cold, dead hand to her face.  
  
No tears came though. No comfort came. She felt so numb. Like something inside her heart had stopped working. Her lover was gone. Everyone was dead. They weren't coming back she was alone and she didn't know why.  
  
How did she deserve this? Why did she deserve this? What had she done in her life to bring this onto herself? Onto everyone she knew and loved?  
  
She'd never hurt anyone in her life intentionally. She had always been good. She had always gone out of her way to help anyone that needed it. So why this? Why now? What had she done wrong? Why was she being punished?  
  
She let go of his hand and placed it on his chest. To the casual viewer he looked so peaceful as if he were merely sleeping. But she knew better. It tore at what was left of her heart as she looked down at him. She saw the peace he had received in death. Peace she would never know in life. How could he be so at peace when she was so torn apart?  
  
She hated him in that moment more then she had ever hated anything in her life. She ripped her water drenched veil off and dropped it on the wooden floor beside him and started back towards her house.  
  
She past the twisted smiling dead corpses of the people she had once loved while they were alive that still smiled upon her from the catacombs of hell. She didn't look at them as she went past.  
  
If she did she doubted ever being sane again. 


	7. Hysteria Of The Heart

Okay, everyone. Sorry I am bouncing around here a bit. Hopefully in the next few chapters you'll understand why. For now, thanks for all your reviews. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---

"What the hell was that?" Paige asked, still lying under Piper and a bit muffled.  
  
Chris didn't have time to respond.  
  
In a matter of seconds, the ice that had covered his mother's body melted.  
  
Piper took a long gasp of fresh air as the ice melted from around her face. The inch or two of ice that had been between her and Paige disappeared and was now water on the floor. Piper didn't even have time to acknowledge the fact that she was still alive when she fell forward straight onto Paige.  
  
She coughed raggedly trying to get oxygen back into her system as she shook. The freezing cold chills were still inside of her bones still leaving aftereffects from the ice. She rolled off of Paige trying to not cut off her sisters oxygen as long as she laid on top of her.  
  
Then Piper sat up and tried to focus on the hazy room around her.  
  
"Piper? Piper, help me," Paige gasped.  
  
Piper looked back at her sister, "Hey, I wasn't on top of you for that long and I don't weigh that much," she started.  
  
Then, she saw what she had done.  
  
The large kitchen knife that she had been holding in her hands during the fight that she had intended in use to kill the girl had gone straight into Paige's stomach when Piper had melted. It now was sticking out of her sister's stomach as Paige gasped in pain. Blood was all over Paige's shaking hands where she had touched her wound.  
  
"Oh, god. Leo!"  
  
Leo orbed in instantly.  
  
His face was drawn in concern and fresh worry. Piper could only do a slight jabbing motion with her finger towards Paige and he knew what she meant. She was too in shock to say anything else.  
  
He immediately healed Paige.  
  
"I felt the power from up there. It was intense. It started an earthquake," he explained helping Paige to her feet.  
  
She brushed herself off. She still was a bit shaken but she took a breath and composed herself, "Thanks, Leo." she said.  
  
Paige looked at the chaos of the house with her hands on her hips. Glad, she was alive but still a little bit annoyed that she hadn't been powerful enough to stop what had happened.  
  
The house was a mess. The front doors were blown out. One lay in the kitchen the other in the sitting room. Their glass was all over the floor from the blows that they had received on the way into the house. The front doorway was now like a ragged gaping hole open to the world, and the smell of fire and something burnt was still crisp in the air.  
  
It was going to take a long time to clean this place up. Let alone, explain to the doorman what had happened to the doors. That's great, just great.  
  
"Okay, what the hell just happened? All I got was the abridged version from Chris saying that you guys needed help. I didn't expect to orb into a war zone. Or hell, get stabbed!" Paige said, spazzing out.  
  
"Is everyone okay?" Chris asked, getting up from the floor. His initial shock at what he'd just saw leaving him at the finality of the situation.  
  
"Quick headcount," Piper ordered.  
  
"Um, I'm good now thanks to Leo. Piper you're good a bit icy though. Chris you're obviously okay. Uh, evil girl is down for the count. But what about Wyatt?" Paige said, filling everyone in.  
  
Piper, Leo, and Paige quickly started into the hallway by the stairs. There Wyatt laid against the landing of the stairs. His long dirty blond curls were falling in his very pale face and he laid there crumpled.  
  
He was uncommonly still. They were all so used to him always moving around and being on top of things that just the sight of him laying there helplessly on the stairs was enough to put any of them in shock.  
  
"I don't like this," Chris said checking Wyatt since he was the closest one to him. "He's alive. He needs healed, Dad."  
  
Leo knowing that his son was in worse shape then was let through on the surface quickly walked up the first few steps to where his son was lying. He hadn't seen his son this bad in years.  
  
Ever since Wyatt had become a teenager he had started keeping things to himself and started to take on everything he could. Wyatt had, in the matter of years, tried to become some version of superman for the family. Wyatt had always known that he was strongest and he'd tried to use that power as much as he could to help the family. Even when he'd been wounded - which had been once in a slight while - he would keep the wound if it wasn't fatal to remember how he had messed up.  
  
Leo had worried about Wyatt more then Chris because of this. Chris knew what he could handle and when he handled it he handled it well. If he was hurt he called for help. He accepted help faithfully but Wyatt wouldn't accept Leo's help a lot because of his broken pride. Leo knew that every single time Wyatt was hurt and needed to be healed it stung his pride.  
  
"I don't get it. Wyatt's like twice blessed how could he not take on a girl!" Paige asked, disbelieving what she saw.  
  
"Well, she's not exactly normal, Paige." Piper said, rising to the defense of her oldest son.  
  
"Yeah, but why didn't he call Excalibur? He could have killed her instantly with that." Paige asked.  
  
"Paige, it all happened so fast. Besides, Wyatt won't call Excalibur for just anything. He knows how powerful it is and he doesn't abuse it because of that. Plus, at the time, he thought, like the rest of us, that she was just some evil force that he could vanquish." Piper told Paige in exasperation. She almost felt like she was speaking to a child without reasoning as she did so.  
  
Piper was annoyed. Paige knew that ever since Wyatt had been a boy Piper had drilled into him the fact that he didn't need to use the Excalibur every time he fought. That he should only use it in times of great need. Otherwise, he would just be abusing the power that had been handed to him.  
  
Plus, her talking about how gifted he was didn't discern the matter that he was lying there unconscious before them. Her baby boy was hurt.  
  
"What is she Leo?" Chris asked, changing the subject knowing that if he didn't Piper and Paige were going to have a major blowout.  
  
"I'm not sure. I can't get a read on her, but whatever she is she is just as powerful as Wyatt if not more so." Leo told Chris.  
  
"Well, that's comforting," Paige responded, sarcastically.  
  
Piper looked at the girl who had changed her into a pound of ice. The chills running through her as she shook. More powerful then Wyatt? That didn't seem right. How could only one person be so powerful? Not even her sisters and her were that powerful. Maybe together they could be, but alone they weren't.  
  
She wanted to kill the girl...If it was a girl. It was just laying there on her hardwood floor bleeding from a small gash on the side of its head. She felt so disgusted as she looked at it. It had tried to kill her son she should just kill it while it was sleeping, but something dark inside of her wanted to savor the kill.  
  
"It's still breathing," Piper whispered, raggedly.  
  
Paige looked confused then realized who Piper was referring to ,"It?"  
  
"I'm not saying it's human after what I just witnessed," Piper informed Paige staring at the girl on the floor. If looks could kill the girl would already be murdered.  
  
"Is the baby okay," Leo asked.  
  
"She's fine. She's kicking like there's no tomorrow though." Piper said touching her stomach gently.  
  
For a moment, she found a slight peace knowing that her baby was okay.  
  
"Which there very well might not be," Paige said, frowning.  
  
"Stop being so pessimistic. You'll find a way to stop this evil. You always do," Leo told her placing his hands over his sons chest to heal him.  
  
"I say we get the crystals and cage her in. Since we can't defeat her yet we should get some answers from her," Chris told them. He stood in the doorway of the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was expressionless at the moment making Piper worry even more about her youngest son.  
  
He'd seen what the girl could do and they had sent him away to get everyone. When he had finally came back to help them nothing had worked. He'd barely made a dent against the girl's power. He must have been beating himself up for it. Especially now that Wyatt was hurt because of it.  
  
Piper wanted to go to her son and put her arm around him to offer him some comfort, but she couldn't. She didn't know if any comfort would help after what she had just witnessed let alone been through. So she stood beside Paige and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, like why she's fond of blowing up people's houses," she agreed.  
  
"Or creating human ice sculptures," Paige added.  
  
"It's a good idea, Chris. "Leo said as he tried healing Wyatt by placing his hands on Wyatt's head this time.  
  
"Hey, maybe we can find out how she has so many powers. She's my age. She should only have one. She just showed us three ," Chris informed them, disgusted.  
  
"Four if you count her immunity to our magic," Paige added.  
  
Leo stood up beside Wyatt with a confused expression listed all over his face as he looked down at his oldest son. Everyone stopped bickering and looked over at him. Waiting for Wyatt to wake up and tell them that he was okay. But he didn't he just laid there motionlessly like nothing had changed.  
  
"Why isn't Wyatt waking up? Leo, why isn't he waking up?" Piper asked, trying not to panic so quickly. Maybe it was nothing. A short delay with magic or something. He wasn't dead so he had to heal. Why wasn't he waking up? "Leo?"  
  
"Piper, calm down. Leo healed Wyatt. He's just resting. Right, Leo?" Paige asked with her hand cupping her sisters elbow as Piper stood there shakily in shock.


	8. 24 Hours At A Time

Sorry for the wait ============================================  
  
Leo stood up beside Wyatt a confused expression listed all over his face as he looked down at his oldest son. Everyone stopped bickering and looked over at him. Waiting for Wyatt to wake up and tell them that he was okay. But he didn't he just laid there motionlessly like nothing had changed.  
  
"Why isn't Wyatt waking up? Leo, why isn't he waking up?" Piper asked, trying not to panic so quickly. Maybe it was nothing. A short delay with magic or something. He wasn't dead so he had to heal. Why wasn't he waking up? "Leo?"  
  
"Piper calm down. Leo healed Wyatt. He's just resting. Right, Leo?" Paige asked with her hand cupping her sisters elbow as piper stood there shakily in shock.  
  
=====================================================  
  
Leo stood beside his son looking down on him confused at why Wyatt wasn't waking up and asked, "What happened here?"  
  
Piper stood in shook. She watched her son and Leo simultaneously. She was waiting for one of them to tell her this was all just a big joke that she was a worrywart and that it was all going to be okay. Instead, they both were still in their positions on the landing.  
  
She couldn't help but notice that Wyatt had broken a sweat since Leo had tried to heal him and now he looked even worse off then before.  
  
Piper stood rooted to her place waiting to see her son open his brilliant blue eyes and look around as if in a daze. Then he would start getting up as if nothing had happened and in his embarrassment he would go and yell at them all for standing around doing nothing while he acted as if nothing had happened for them to worry.  
  
She waited. When she didn't get what she waited for her brain started to shutdown.  
  
"We actually don't know for sure," Paige responded with her hands on her hips. Her shoulders were thrown back with her long golden red hair back in a bun and a slight frown passive over her pale lips.  
  
"I healed Wyatt. He should be awake right now," Leo replied as he glanced over his son.  
  
On the outside there weren't any visible scars or wounds that were causing any pain for Wyatt to be suffering. Inside his mind was another deal. Leo couldn't save Wyatt's mind. Not even his newly probationed Elder powers that the Elders had finally decided he had earned could he save Wyatt.  
  
Leo looked away from his son. Piper saw the pain evident in his luminous blue eyes. He surveyed the hallway and saw the damage that had been done there earlier. No wonder there had been an earthquake he realized as he looked over all the damage. It looked as if a war had started in the Halliwell Manor.  
  
"Unless, of course, she did something to him that we don't know about." Paige responded.  
  
It took that answer to wake up Piper's mind. It had been on automatic shutdown and now it was racing all over again. She quickly walked the few feet to where the girl lay over the hardwood floor she had mopped the night before.  
  
She grabbed the girl crudely and started shaking her with all the strength she had. The girls head rolled over boneless shoulders as Piper shook her harder. She didn't care if she was hurting the girl. She was ready to kill her with her bare hands.  
  
"You bitch. Wake up!" Piper slapped the girl's head hard onto the hardwood floor. "Tell me what you did to him. Tell me damn you!" she screamed into the girls unaware face.  
  
Leo ran down the stairs to Piper and pried her bone white fingers from around the girls neck, somehow during it all she had started to strangle the girl. Her pain had started to slip away slowly the harder she pressed on the girls throat.  
  
It had felt good.  
  
The girl deserved to hurt after everything she had done to Wyatt.  
  
Leo locked his arms around Piper trying to keep her from escaping his grasp in her violent attack of the girl. In anger of him holding her back from her revenge, she beat at his chest like a toy drum. She beat his chest as hard as she could trying to make him hurt as much as she hurt.  
  
Leo's blue eyes were the only thing in her vision.  
  
They were so like Wyatt's. She'd let Wyatt down. Now he was hurt. And she was the only one to blame. She wanted to kill.  
  
Piper started crying into Leo's chest as she let him hold her and stopped beating him, "You can have me, you can turn me into ice, you can destroy my home, but you can't have him."  
  
Leo shushed her lightly. His strong hands running through her dark brown hair as he did. He had seen Piper upset before but never this way. She was crazed with bloodlust and she was letting the bloodlust take over for her so she wouldn't have to think about what was going on. If she kept acting out this way she was going to kill the girl before they found out why Wyatt was still unconscious. . Leo touched Piper's head lightly and kissed the top of her forehead as he tried to calm her down. He had to admit he felt the same way towards the evil girl lying on the floor, but he wouldn't let Piper kill her. He wouldn't let Piper live her life knowing she was a killer. He held onto her tightly. Glad, that she was okay and still with him giving him the strength he needed to try to figure out what had happened to Wyatt.  
  
"Leo, I'm scared," Piper admitted, staring up at him with her doe-like brown eyes.  
  
"I know. Just be calm. We'll figure this out. We always do," he told her softly touching her face to soothe her. In that small fraction of a moment, it felt as if they were the only two people on the earth. He stared into her eyes and smiled gently trying to calm her down.  
  
"Leo, she just appeared," Piper started to explain slowly coming out of her shock.  
  
"Did Wyatt know her?" Leo asked, brushing a few strands of Piper's dark brown hair out of her face.  
  
"No, I don't think so." she told him and looked over at Chris. "Did you know her, Chris?"  
  
Chris looked at her with his dark piercing green eyes watching them quietly. It had been awhile since he had seen either of his parents together trying to protect one another.  
  
It had also been awhile since Leo had been with them since he'd gotten his powers back from the Elders. Ever since then, Leo had been everywhere trying to help everyone. It was a surprise to Chris that Leo even knew he was going to have another baby.  
  
Chris took a breath and shook his head, "I've never seen her before."  
  
"So, what? She just felt like killing off a charmed one?" Paige asked, incredulously.  
  
"No," Chris said, standing up straight with his arms still crossed over his chest. "No, there was definitely a motive. She was pissed off. Whatever Wyatt did or what she thought he did is exactly why she was here."  
  
"Yet Wyatt didn't know her. There's definitely something wrong with this picture. I'm going to go see if I can find out anything from the Elders. Paige, you look in the book of shadows to see if there's any mention of her." Leo said, instantly falling into his roll again of commanding Elder. He looked back down onto Piper who was still in his arms and smiled sadly. He gave her a small kiss and kept his forehead leaning against hers as he spoke softly only to her, "Piper, will you be okay"  
  
She nodded with her throat dry, "It's not me you have to worry about."  
  
"I will be back as soon as I can." he told her and gave her another small kiss that she held onto as he orbed away.  
  
Piper took a breath. She wished that Leo hadn't left her alone to deal with this. She wished she didn't have to deal with magic anymore. She wished her family didn't have to live every day of their lives with magic always rearing it's ugly head.  
  
She looked as Chris and Paige who were watching silently from the sidelines. Both had been surprised by her outburst. Even she had been the same way with herself. She didn't look at the girl lying on the floor. If Piper did she knew she would just end up doing to the same thing to the girl until she was dead. The girl was no good to any of them dead.  
  
Piper climbed up the few steps to the landing and touched her sons forehead. Pushing his blond hair out of his pale face as all of her worries came back to her, "He's burning up!"  
  
"Her powers must be immune to Leo's healing. But how?" Chris asked, staring at the unconscious girl.  
  
"Yeah, how? We're supposed to be the all powerful charmed ones. It doesn't make sense that one girl can possess that much magic. Don't the Elders watch out for this kind of thing?" Paige agreed, standing over the girl.  
  
"They're supposed to." Chris said in a gravelly voice.  
  
"Paige, orb her to the attic. Use the crystals like Chris suggested," Piper broke into their steady conversation.  
  
Her reserves were up now as she took a few calming breaths. She was the oldest sister now and she had to take care of her whole family not just her son.  
  
"Okay, but don't you want Wyatt upstairs first?" Paige asked, breaking her steady gaze and coming to stand beside Piper.  
  
"No. Do what I say, Paige. Now!" Piper ordered.  
  
"Okay, okay. Don't get so testy," Paige answered going back towards the girl.  
  
"Paige, I might lose my son because of that thing. I'm not willing to keep her out in the open where she can kill us off one by one. Now do it!" Piper ordered. All of her feelings jumbling together as she did so.  
  
Paige stared at Piper for a moment. Not sure of what to make of her as she took a hold of the evil girls hand. Then she orbed herself and the girl up into the attic. Hoping, that Piper knew what she was doing. 


	9. Start Making Sense

Chris came over to his mother worriedly.  
  
She sat resting beside his fallen brother with her hand holding his brothers clammy hand in faith that he would wake up soon miraculously. He didn't know what to do or say that would comfort her. He'd never been good at that kind of thing. Sarcasm was his forte not comfort.  
  
Yet he wanted her comforted. He wanted to make sure she was okay. The way she had acted earlier had freaked him out. His mother had never been so ruthless towards anyone. Demons had come and gone that she had vanquished and none of them had brought out the kind of cruelty in her that he had seen that day.  
  
She had been someone he didn't recognize.  
  
He could tell with each passing second that his mother was drowning even more in her worries and even more in her guilt.  
  
If anyone was guilty it was him.  
  
He had been there when the girl had come and he hadn't even been able to hurt her. He'd went straight into the room recklessly and he'd learned his lesson. His mother had almost died because of his recklessness let alone his baby sister. If he had stayed behind and tried to help Wyatt vanquish her instead of went after Phoebe and Paige this may have all changed.  
  
Wyatt may not have been laying there unconscious.  
  
Chris hated them for making him go. Sure, his mother and Wyatt had thought it'd be easier to get him out of there to bring everyone home to restore the power of three, but that hadn't worked. If they hadn't made him leave like they always did during a battle then maybe Wyatt would be okay right now.  
  
Maybe, Wyatt and he could have vanquished the girl together.  
  
He went to his silently dazed mother and placed a hand over her shoulder. She barely even noticed what he had done. Instead, she was staring into the living room at something he couldn't see.  
  
Her knuckles were so white the way they were holding Wyatt's hand so hard. Chris wished he could somehow comfort her, but he couldn't.  
  
Instead, he worried with her.  
  
"Mom? Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, softly.  
  
"Chris, I'm fine," she answered slowly coming out of her faze.  
  
"Yeah, but she froze you mom. Literally. You could still be suffering from hypothermia or something," he tried.  
  
"What?" Piper asked, incredulously.  
  
"It's just that Leo healed Wyatt, but he's not awake. You unfroze. You're lucky, but how lucky? What if there's still some kind of impression on you from her freezing you?"  
  
"Oh, honey. It's nice of you to worry about me, but..... You, I should be worrying about you more. She electrocuted you. We should get Leo back down here to make sure you are okay." Piper said, patting Chris's hand. Then she opened her mouth to call for Leo.  
  
"No, mom! Don't. He's trying to work fast. This'll only slow him down," Chris disagreed, quickly.  
  
"Chris, I can't not worry about you. It's my job." Piper responded, frowning.  
  
"Look, I'm fine," Chris replied waving a hand over himself to prove it. "Wyatt isn't. Let's focus on him now."  
  
Chris looked down at his older brother. He had never seen him down for so long. He didn't know how to react to it. He kept imagining that Wyatt was just playing some kind of childish game on all of them like he had when they were kids.  
  
"I'm going to orb Wyatt to his room. He can't stay out here on the stairs the whole time," Chris told Piper as he went over on the other side of Wyatt to reach down for his hand.  
  
"No!" Piper cried, quickly standing up.  
  
"What? Why? What's the purpose of leaving him here?" Chris asked, as he waved his hands at the disaster scene around them. He was starting to believe that his mom was losing it.  
  
"No, take him up and lay him on the bed in the attic," Piper replied.  
  
"The attic, but mom she's there! He'll be a sitting duck," Chris cried.  
  
"Don't argue with me, young man. Just do it," she ordered, flinging her hands up in anger. Incidentally, the closest thing in her range blew up. Which happened to be the old grandfather clock. "Oh, not the clock again." she whined.  
  
"This isn't right," Chris argued.  
  
"Hey, no lip from you, young man." Piper responded pointing her finger at him and resting her other hand on her hip stubbornly.  
  
Chris sighed. He didn't agree at all with what she was doing. It was a suicide mission. But he gave up the fight for now. He wouldn't be able to win the argument without help from Paige or Phoebe anyways.  
  
He did as his mother said and orbed his brother to the attic. 


	10. Holding Out The Shock

Just as Chris orbed out Phoebe sprinted into the house.  
  
She was ready for anything. She was already on guard for any demons or any energy balls to be thrown at her. When they didn't come she was a bit confused and a bit disappointed. She slowly peaked around the corner she had quickly hid in to see Piper sitting on the landing of the staircase with her head in her hands.  
  
Instantly she knew something was off in the house. There was so much pressure in the air still and she could almost smell the faint scent of something burnt.  
  
She let her black purse fall on the floor with her car keys jangling in the silence as she rushed over to her troubled sister.  
  
"Okay, where's the fire?" she asked, coming into the hallway and looking down at her older sister.  
  
Piper only had to look up at Phoebe for her to see something was wrong.  
  
Piper was crying.  
  
Piper barely ever cried over anything unless it had to deal with family.  
  
Phoebe looked around the vacant house trying to piece together what may have happened and swallowed hard on nervousness as she made her way up the few stairs quickly to her sister's side. Her arm was already wrapping around Piper's shoulders in an attempt to calm her or to comfort her as Piper recklessly sobbed.  
  
"Oh, no. no, no. Oh, Piper. What happened?" she asked, softly.  
  
"It's Wyatt...he was...I tried...and it got him," Piper gasped out between sobs.  
  
"What? Honey, I don't know what you're saying," Phoebe said, watching her sister worried as she used her other hand to hold Piper's cold one.  
  
Piper took a moment.  
  
She chocked down the sobs with a few breaths and then looked at her younger sister. Piper's eyes were red and swollen from her hysterical attack of tears as she tried again to tell Phoebe the story, "At first, I thought it was Shax come back to finish what he started ...it was just like when Prue...died," she hiccupped out.  
  
"Oh, no. Sweetie, he's gone. We vanquished him." Phoebe reminded.  
  
"I was talking to Wyatt then the doors.. they flew at me."  
  
"Oh. Oh. How'd I miss that?" Phoebe asked, cracking a small smile trying to get Piper to smile. But she didn't.  
  
"And this girl. She just came in and they fought... Her and Wyatt...She's so powerful, Phoebe. I don't know how someone can be so powerful." Piper said softly staring into the distance for a brief moment.  
  
"It'll be okay. We've got the power of three," Phoebe tried.  
  
"I'm not so sure that it'll pack much of a punch." Piper responded to her sister laughing harshly.  
  
"Oh, Piper. Are you kidding me?"  
  
"Phoebe, Wyatt's hurt. He's unconscious. And Leo healed him and he still didn't come out of it. When he fought her the house shook."  
  
Phoebe just started to realize what she had missed. What Chris had been trying to desperately get her back to.  
  
"God. What are we going to do?" Phoebe whispered.  
  
"I don't know. And that's not the half of it either. She froze me," Piper said motioning with her arms hysterically at the wet spot on the floor.  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"Ice, Phoebe. She froze me in ice and she electrocuted Chris. And I accidentally stabbed Paige. Then she got to Wyatt all in a matter of moments," Piper finished babbling quickly.  
  
God, Phoebe thought.  
  
She looked over the mess that was left from the battle. She should have been there. She shouldn't have cared about the consequences. She should have just let Chris orb her so that maybe they would have had a chance. Now, everyone was hurt. It was her fault. Chris had given her a chance to come and she hadn't. She'd been so caught up in the damn speeding ticket and not exposing magic that she had forgot how much her family had needed her.  
  
"Are Paige and Chris okay?"  
  
"Yes, for now. But we don't know if her power effects on us are long term or not."  
  
"Oh, well we'll deal with that when it comes along. Where is everyone?"  
  
"Upstairs in the attic. I wanted us all together when it...she wakes up."  
  
"So we're the most powerful. Good choice." Phoebe said, leaning her head against Piper's.  
  
"No, because if I'm alone with her I won't be able to say what I'd do to her for hurting Wyatt," Piper said looking off into space.  
  
Phoebe glanced at her sister and brought her back by waving her hand in her face, "Okay, I gotcha...intense revenge will be had. Shall we?"  
  
Phoebe stood and helped Piper up. Piper took a moment to stand in her spot and look at the mess around her. She touched her belly lightly where the baby kicked again in agreement. Then, they started to climb the stairs together with Phoebe interlinking her arm with Piper's. 


	11. Ensemble Of Restlessness

Chris gently laid Wyatt's heavy body down onto the old creaking white bed in the attic.  
  
Wyatt was getting worse.  
  
There was nothing that he knew that could save his brother. His father was again up in the clouds taking his time getting information about the evil girl that had come to kill Wyatt instead of finding a way to save his own son. His mother had gone off her rocker. He knew that now. She had gone crazy and now she was putting Wyatt in danger because of it.  
  
He grabbed a few old, dusty yellowing pillows and pressed them underneath Wyatt's limp body to prop him up. Then, he laid a discarded blanket that Wyatt had always carried around as a kid on top of him. Chris would make sure his brother was at least comfortable on the bed if he couldn't be comfortable with the disease the girl had passed into his mind.  
  
Paige looked up at him making Wyatt comfortable. Her attention was quickly drawn away from flipping through the Book of Shadows in surprise to see them both up in the attic. Then, she looked quickly over at the girl to make sure she was still unconscious. Thankfully, she was. For how long she had no clue.  
  
The girl was lying on the floor in front of the book with the white crystals circling her body to cage her in. Fresh bruises were slowly forming over her face from Piper's attack on her. Her pale white throat was already a deep purple bruise from her almost being strangled to death in Piper's rage.  
  
Paige quickly moved away from the book and stalked over to Chris and Wyatt. She was definitely angry at him for bringing Wyatt up to the attic in his condition. She was going to let him have it since no one else was around for her to put her frustrations on.  
  
"What the hell are you thinking? If she wakes up and the stones don't work.." Paige cried, as she started spazzing out on him. She waved her hand from the girl to the defenseless, ailing Wyatt and gave him a look that could kill as she did.  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my idea!"  
  
"So, who's brilliant idea was it?" Paige asked her hands were placed on her hips as she looked at him in irritation.  
  
"Moms."  
  
"What? That doesn't make any sense," Paige cried and started to pace from the bed Wyatt was lying on to the crystal cage beside the Book of Shadows.  
  
In answer to her frustrations, Piper and Phoebe arrived at the entrance to the attic. Piper, who had been leaning against her younger sister for support, now stood straight on her own as she dislodged her arm from Phoebe's. Piper knew what Chris and Paige were thinking. They thought she was being crazy to do this. The danger it put Wyatt in was enough to make her want to change her mind, but she had made a plan in the small time that she'd been alone downstairs.  
  
Her plan would make them think she was being ridiculous even loco. But she didn't care. She knew one thing for sure. If there was a way to bring back Wyatt from his catatonic state it would be through the girl.  
  
She'd been thinking about his earlier. Right now it was the only plan she had come up with. The only problem with it was that it had a lot riding on the girl not being evil. Also, her plan was a bit one-sided in the way that she had planned it so that the girl would help them by saving Wyatt.  
  
And if she didn't Piper was fully ready to just blow the girl up.  
  
She doubted the girl would have any chance to fight her powers off when she was inside the crystals cage.  
  
"Well, it took you long enough to come," Paige said pointedly to Phoebe.  
  
"Hey, I couldn't just get out of a cop giving me a ticket without any repercussions." Phoebe said defending herself.  
  
"Yeah, but you could let hell break loose here," Paige declared her eyes slitting in anger.  
  
"Look, I didn't expect it to be this bad."  
  
"Well then what did you expect ?" Paige laughed bitterly.  
  
"Look this isn't my fault. I'm sorry but I couldn't just leave my car there. If I had we would have more to worry about then some evil girl," Phoebe cried.  
  
"Hey guys, this isn't helping!" Chris yelled over them.  
  
They both looked at him shocked at his outburst. Then they checked themselves. Phoebe nodded dropping her defenses as she looked over at Wyatt and Paige just walked back to the Book of Shadows to get as far away from her sister as she could for the moment.  
  
"You're right it's not. Wyatt staying up here isn't the best solution to our problem either," Paige replied as she shut the Book of Shadows in frustration.  
  
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Paige," Piper commented.  
  
Paige stared at her with her mouth gaping open.  
  
This was so unlike Piper to go out of her way to tell her she didn't count. She couldn't believe that Piper had just said that to her after she'd been there trying to save Wyatt right along with her.  
  
Sure, she hadn't been the best of help being stuck underneath a pile of ice, but she had at least showed up. Phoebe had taken so long that they couldn't even try to use the power of three on the girl effectively yet Piper was all being buddy buddy with her.  
  
Paige felt a gaping hole starting to descend over her again as she felt the past coming back. The past where she didn't have any say because she was too young and too inexperienced as a witch to have a say in anything they did. She hated that feeling. It had been years since she had felt that way and now here it was coming over her again like a tidal wave.  
  
How could Piper be so cold to her?  
  
Phoebe went over to Wyatt and sat on the bed beside him. She already felt horrible about being away while everything had happened. If Wyatt didn't wake up she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. He was like her own son. She had watched him grow up and helped him vanquish demon after demon. But now, she had left him completely defenseless by being so reckless.  
  
She grabbed a cold blue washcloth laying beside the bed that Chris had orbed up for Wyatt and placed it over Wyatt's sweat ridden forehead. He was shaking now. His teeth were chattering as she piled on another blanket.  
  
Piper went over to the Book of Shadows. "Here's the plan. We wake her up," she said, then she stopped instantly on one of the pages she was flipping through.  
  
"That's it? Your brilliant plan is to just wake up the very angry might I say extremely powerful being?" Paige cried. "Then what do we do? Have a nice tea party, play a few games of charades, or how about a game of twister. You know since everyone just loves the game."  
  
"Paige," Phoebe said, softly trying to calm her down.  
  
Phoebe could feel how powerful Paige's anger was towards her. Paige felt betrayed by Phoebe not being there. Of anyone, Paige had always looked up to Phoebe. She'd been the first one to accept her into the family and she had been the first one to help her deal with Piper's conviction that Paige was ready to be a witch. She'd been there for her through almost every attack and she knew what horrible things could occur if they weren't together.  
  
So it only made sense that Phoebe's betrayal had hurt her the most of anyone.  
  
Phoebe wanted to make it right, but she knew nothing she did at that moment could heal the wound she had just picked open. She also felt the scarred self esteem that Piper had tore at when she'd told Paige to basically shut up. On top of everything, Phoebe felt the pride that had been broken when Paige hadn't even been able to lift a hand against the girl. All Paige's emotions piled on top of Phoebe's as she pressed the wash cloth to Wyatt's head.  
  
From Wyatt she felt nothing. It was as if his body was living on its own and his soul had disappeared.  
  
"No, Phoebe. You weren't here, you didn't see what she did to Wyatt, or how it affected everything. It doesn't add up as a plan, Piper. I'm sorry, but I actually do like being alive. For what its worth, I also like keeping all of my family alive with me. Thank you very much. So you can count me out of this one," Paige informed crossing her arms over her chest firmly.  
  
"That's not all... Hold on a second. I know I was engorged in ice but when she saw you Chris what did she say?" Piper asked, finally looking up for the book as the wheels started turning in her head.  
  
"Uh, she called me William. It was weird. She acted as if she knew me," Chris told his mother waiting for everything to start making sense, but it didn't.  
  
"And she was pissed at Wyatt, but he doesn't know her. At least, not in this life."  
  
"What? You lost me?" Paige said, staring at Piper as if she had gone to outer space and back.  
  
"Well, it explains everything. She's pissed because of something he did to her in her past life. It even may be something that's still affecting her in this one." Piper explained.  
  
"I don't know," Paige said slowly not ready to give in yet.  
  
Phoebe nodded slowly as she looked up from where she was beside her nephew. It was all starting to make sense. "It makes perfect sense. If she's back from her past life then he wouldn't recognize her in this one."  
  
"Uh, guys, you are really stretching your past life theory here," Chris told them as he interrupted their brainstorm.  
  
Piper and Phoebe gave him a look and said almost in unison, "Why?"  
  
"Because she's like evil. We should vanquish her not give her a motive for trying to kill us," he answered.  
  
"Actually, she only wanted Wyatt. She told me that in between turning me into a pile of ice and calling me and idiot." Piper told them.  
  
"So what do you propose we do? If this theory proves to be true?" Paige asked, slowing coming around. She had to admit it almost made a lot of sense.  
  
"First, we wake sleeping beauty up like I said before. Then, we find out why exactly she has homicidal tendencies towards my son. If she's just evil we'll vanquish her. If not," Piper let her thought float in the air around them as they got the gist of what she was saying.  
  
"You can't possibly say we're going to help her!" Chris cried.  
  
"Well, why not?" Phoebe asked, "Maybe we could just prove to her he's good."  
  
"Yeah, like that's going to work," Paige replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well, at least, she'll see he's evolved since the last time they met," Phoebe interjected, defensively.  
  
"I'm sure that'll change everything," Paige said, sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, I'm trying here. I mean if it's a past life we can't change the past without hurting the present. So she's out of luck there. We just really need to know the circumstances before we plan anything," Phoebe said going over to the Book of Shadows to stand beside Piper  
  
"I wholeheartedly agree," Piper said smiling thankfully at Phoebe then she turned her attention to Paige who was still a little bit reluctant. Who was still standing away from her sisters.  
  
"Mom, you can't help her. She tried to kill Wyatt. She's not an innocent. Plus, she electrocuted me," Chris tried.  
  
"Chris, let's take this one step at a time. Maybe, we can get a compromise." Piper responded, looking at her son. Silently, pleading him with her brown eyes and trying to get him to understand that the girl was the only way for them to save Wyatt.  
  
"You know what? No." he replied. "If you do this you're digging your own grave."  
  
"Chris," Piper cried in exasperation. Like she needed to deal with Chris being difficult on top of everything that had happened that day.  
  
"I won't be any part of it," he stated with a shake of his head and then he orbed out.  
  
"Great. Try to help one son and lose another," Piper said looking down at the floor.  
  
She felt so tired in that instant. She just wanted to rest, but she knew that she couldn't. She had to get Paige to help them and then she had to save her oldest son.  
  
"He'll be back, sweetie. He's just confused." Phoebe said laying her arm over Piper's shoulders.  
  
Phoebe looked over at Paige, "So, are you in or out on this one, Paige?" she asked.  
  
Paige answered reluctantly, "I'm in. I guess. I sure would like to know why she's so hell bent on killing my nephew."  
  
"Good," Piper answered holding out her hand as Paige took it with her own and gave Piper's hand a small squeeze seeing how much this had taken out of her.  
  
"Now, let's wake sleeping beauty," Phoebe declared as they all turned to look back at the bruised girl lying on the floor unconscious. 


	12. While I Breathe I Hope

Alright everyone. I am back to bouncing around...

NoAlias asked if that was Victoria's past life with the wedding and everything. Actually, no. That was just the curse in action in this life....

Now, is the time for you to find out what Wyatt did in his past life. Hopefully you won't be so confused once the next two chapters are established.

================================================

Now it is time for the shout outs that are so well deserved.

Here's to the slightly confused. I'm sorry about that I'm still working on it: Willows2, and Christine Marquez

Here's to the reoccurring reviewers: Willows2, cherry7up56, buffspike, gabwr, NoAlias, Calen, shortie4283, and angmalish.

Here's to the voice of reason: Calen.  
  
Thank you for all your reviews. Keep them coming.  
  
================================================================  
  
Before I start I should fill you in on a few things. Hopefully, this will make it easier. In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Child, you will use your magic again. I'm sorry for the circumstances that will lead you to it. But fate must be answered to."  
  
Victoria ran her hand over the old black leather bound spell book her family had had for centuries.  
  
It was so dusty. Her hand came back from it with a long threaded line of dirt over its palm clearly defining the palms lines in white. Her mother had told her many things as a child.  
  
She had told her she would do so many good things with her gifts when she had been a baby. Her mother had been so happy to know her daughter would be such a paragon of goodness. Yet when she'd grown to be a child of four years of age her mother had stopped telling her these things. Instead, her words had been mixed with a sadness, a few rare regrets, and a forewarning that Victoria had believed over the years was mere a superstition.  
  
Now she knew better  
  
Her mother's gift of premonition had seen this very day.  
  
She had known the whole time. Maybe, that was why she had tried to stop her from marrying Mark when she'd called her spirit to her to announce the news to her. Of all people, she had believed her dead mother had the right to know that was getting married. Maybe, she'd thought that if Victoria had never married Mark she would have a way to escape her own fate. That way she wouldn't be ruined by fate.  
  
"You're cursed, Victoria. You will never know what love or happiness is. If you do feel it for even the slightest moment you will pay dearly for it. I'm sorry, my baby. I can't help you at all." her mother had told her the week Victoria had told her that she was going to marry Mark.  
  
She'd remembered those words easily as if they were a tune to an old song that she knew well throughout her life. Those words her mother had already told her years before, but she had to chose to ignore them.  
  
At the time she'd thought it was a strange way to congratulate her for the news. Now, she knew better.  
  
Her mother's words taunted her as she found the page in the spell book that she was looking for. She'd never done anything to bring a curse onto herself in this life. That left the door open for her last lifetime. She took a deep breath and read the spell.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
She opened her sleeping eyes to find herself in the backseat of a car.  
  
She didn't have time to think about what she was doing there before someone opened the door for her and she stepped outside into the world.  
  
A few couples strolled up the stairs past her. All the ladies around her wore brightly colored flapper dresses and the men wore black suites to the occasion.  
  
The couples masqueraded in and out of the red house on the hill of Prescott Street. Laughter and gossip traveled through the air around her along with distant piano tunes as she stood on the gravel. The sun was gleaming down over the ground blinding her as she slowly climbed the stairs to the house.  
  
Three cousins lived in the house and ran a speak easy for the neighborhood. The cousins were like celebrities in the community. Each girl owned her own special beauty and added her own spice to the speak easy.  
  
P. Bowen was well-known in the area for her expert eye in photographs. No one who had ever went to see her for their portraits complained. She captured people in her portraits. Some called her a witch for her talent to do so and declared she would never take their souls if they could help it.  
  
Those few she thought of as fools. It was funny to her that they would take on such a silly superstition.  
  
She herself had never posed for her portrait. She didn't have a partner to stand with her in it or even the money to pay for P. Bowen's expertise. Besides, P. Bowen usually did portraits of lovers. Bowen had even once said that there was more depth to a photograph of lovers then one lonely person smiling for the camera. Lovers portraits were Bowen's forte.  
  
Then there was P. Baxter who's husband played the piano tunes to add the life to the party. Baxter was the perfect hostess at the speak easy. She would make sure everyone was having a good time and that they were all accommodated with the best drinks in town or else her job was never finished.  
  
The townspeople loved her and they loved to gossip about her good name. The best topic of the towns gossip about P. Baxter was of her old flame. The town continuously would make up rants about how he would come back one day and she would run off with him. Everyone had seen P. Baxter with both men and everyone she talked to seemed to favor the man she wasn't with.  
  
Last but not least, was P. Russel. She was the life of the party. She added magic to it with her potions that she gave to people to curse their lovers, start love, or even tell them of their futures. She was the one that people really talked about. Rumors about her usually were true. If an old husband was dead in the county after betraying his wife then everyone knew it had been P. Russel that had done it.  
  
Rumors now were that the cousins were clashing. They weren't as close as they had used to be and it didn't seem that they were going to fix the problem rationally. A few random rumors said that they were going to fix the problem with death. Those rumors had pulled quite a few people to the speak easy that day. Everyone was hoping to see the clash of the titans so to speak.  
  
Many things had brought her.  
  
One in general was hope that P. Russel would give her a potion to stop an attraction to her from an evil man.  
  
As she came to the last few stairs leading to the house she looked over at her reflection in one of the windows. She wore an electric blue flapper dress that swooshed back and forth with its silver beads hanging from the fringe of her knee length skirt. Her hair was a bright blond and was curled back into a silver beaded headdress like the fashion called for.  
  
Nervous energy took over her as she looked up at the manor. Today a bad feeling had spread through her being when she'd decided to come to the manor to ask for help. Something was going to happen here and it wasn't going to be good.  
  
It had been that feeling that had kept her dilly dallying outside the manor. That and the fact that she hated taking help from others. Help. She hated being so weak that she had to accept help from anyone. Her mother had always told her that her stubbornness would get in her way one day.  
  
Right now she wished her mother wasn't always right. She took a breath and ran her hands down her skirt one more time trying to press down any wrinkles that may have just appeared in her anxiety.  
  
"Valerie? What are you doing here?" a voice called.  
  
She turned quickly to meet the all too familiar voices owner. Well, well. William was here, too. Perhaps he needed a spell. Why she had no idea. For all the world that was concerned he was one of the most handsome person she had ever lied eyes on. Or even fallen for.  
  
His longish dark brown hair was slicked back to reveal his heartbreakingly handsome face. His green eyes were so striking that anyone looking into them needed a moment to prepare themselves. His eyes for being such a color of forest green turned colors every time he felt something different. She'd become so acquainted with him that even now she could tell he was surprised to see her there.  
  
Of course, why shouldn't he be? She'd never claimed to like the cousins. They'd always been an open closed subject. It hadn't been that she'd hated them. She like them. It was what they stood for that was what she found scary. Power and witchcraft. She still feared the Salem witch trials coming back. It had always worried her. She liked living peacefully very much as opposed to dying at a burning stake.  
  
Because she also had something she liked to keep a secret. She also had powers. Her powers scared her. She didn't like the responsibility that came with them, and she also hated the demons that tried to kill her at every turn for them.  
  
She'd realized over time that if she only used them when she needed to that she could easily ward off the demons that liked to attack her. Except for one very seductive evil that she was here to try to get rid of.  
  
"Oh, William. So funny to see you here," she replied and gave him a quick warm hug.  
  
They'd grown up together. They'd been through almost everything together when he wasn't out visiting the country with his family. Her mother would always invite him over to their house to visit and have dinner. Her mother had always seen him as a prospective husband for her.  
  
"I thought you hated the cousins?" he asked, leaning against the house.  
  
"Oh, well. I haven't seen you in the longest. Where have you been?" she asked to change the subject, taking a hold of his arm and starting in towards the house.  
  
The last time she'd seen him had been the day they'd first kissed. It had been the best moment of her life up till then. She'd finally learned that he felt the same way about her after all those childhood years of pinning away for him. It'd been perfect.  
  
So perfect that they had done more then kissed.  
  
He'd come over one rainy and they'd been sitting in her solarium. They'd come to a long quiet moment where he'd been too nervous to speak with her. She hadn't known what had come over him. So, she'd started babbling about nothing in general and he had kissed her.  
  
"I've had a lot of family...business. I heard you had a um a caller." he said, nervously.  
  
Andrew.  
  
He'd heard about Andrew.  
  
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked away from him. Andrew was the reason she was there that day. To kill off his evil advances. If she could drink a potion to ward off his affections then she would finally be safe from his evil. Then, her family could finally rest in peace.  
  
"Oh, that." she said twirling a strand of her blond curls in her finger. "Don't worry about him. I'm trying to get rid of him actually. I'm hoping that Russel will give me something to stop him from loving me."  
  
"Does such a thing exist?"  
  
"I have no idea. I hope so." she answered, hopefully.  
  
"Are you sure that that is the best way to stop him?" William asked quickly.  
  
"Well, no. I'm only going with hope right now. Plus, Russel doesn't turn anyone away unless they've angered her, of course. Which I haven't," she giggled. "at least not in this life."  
  
"So.."  
  
"So, "she answered. "I was wondering you know...well it was more like pondering what exactly is becoming of us?"  
  
"Oh, that." he seemed even more nervous.  
  
He fidgeted as they went through the threshold of the speak easy. The quiet world outside disappearing into a jarring piano tuned, smoky atmosphere, and crowded parlor. People turned to them interested for a moment and then turned back to their conversations.  
  
His nervousness took a life of its own and entered her bloodstream. She knew that if she wasted her time trying to get answers out of him she would never get to P. Russel. That was the most important commitment at that moment.  
  
She dislodged her arm from his as she started looking over the crowds for her, but saw nothing.  
  
"William, perhaps you can avoid the subject of us next time we meet. Until then. I hope you enjoy the party," she said, quaintly.  
  
Quickly she walked into the crowds masses of tuxedoed men and flapper women.  
  
She didn't look back at him. She didn't want to see how relieved he would be at not having to discuss the last time they'd seen each other. Instead of relief, she missed his look of disappointment.  
  
It didn't take her long to find the solarium where the people had pointed her out to find P. Russel. There a little girl kneeling on the floor crying over a broken dolly. She could have done simple magic to fix the poor girl's dolly but she didn't. Instead, she started to hunt again.  
  
There, of course, was no sign of Russel. She was about to give up and leave when she saw her. She was talking to P. Bowen. She started to make her way over to them, but ran straight into William.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said still moving towards them.  
  
"Valerie, wait."  
  
"I can't. I need to see her," she responded.  
  
William grabbed her arm and hastily ripped her dresses strap.  
  
"William, stop it." she cried.  
  
"I'm sorry, Valerie, but I can't" he said pulling her to him.  
  
"Let go of me. William!" she tried to hit him away from her but he somehow swung her in front of him and took a hold of her other arm as he made her go through the crowd.  
  
Around them people were screaming and running from the manor. Right in front of her eyes she saw P. Bowen breathe ice onto P. Russel and P. Russel waved her hand and produced fire to counter attack her.  
  
They were real witches. They really could help her. With powers like that they could even kill Andrew and then she'd be free.  
  
"William," she yelled over the noise.  
  
"No." he said, dully. He was barely even paying attention to her struggles.  
  
"What? What do you mean no? Let me go!"  
  
Instead of answering, he pulled her outside the back door of the manor.  
  
It was already night. The street was barren of people. It seemed as if everyone had disappeared off the face of the earth except William and herself. Outside, he released her in the alley beside the Manor.  
  
"William, their my only hope. Don't you get that? If I don't go back in there ... I might die or worse. I know you don't believe in magic, but it's real. William, do you remember my admirer? Andrew? Well, he's after me and if I don't get help he's going to hurt me," she told him trying to side step him so she could run back to the manor. But he was matching every step of hers with his own.  
  
"William, I'm scared. Not just for me but for everyone I know." she confessed in a half sob.  
  
"Valerie, I know."  
  
"You don't. There's no way you could know how I feel."  
  
"No, I know," he interrupted, "Andrew. In fact, you could say we're related."  
  
She stopped.  
  
Everything in her stopped. She was dead. There was no way. She couldn't speak. She could only look on at him in horror. She'd loved him and he'd betrayed her. He was betraying her now.  
  
"We're brothers."  
  
"Don't you see the resemblance," a harsh voice asked.  
  
She didn't even look away from William. She knew who had joined them in the moonlight.  
  
Andrew.


	13. Helplessly, Hopelessly, Recklessly

In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
===============================================  
  
She didn't even look away from William. She didn't have to. She knew who had joined them in the moonlight.  
  
Andrew.  
  
He knew everything too. He'd sent William to get her for him to add insult to injury.  
  
"Now that you mention it," she spit out crossing her arms over her chest. Trying to be strong, since it was the only thing she could do.  
  
"Oh, don't act like that my dear Valerie. I've been waiting so long just to see you again. You've been a hard girl to find."  
  
"Maybe, it's because I don't want to be found by you. Ever think of that, Andrew?"  
  
He laughed. His blue eyes growing into a deeper blue as a few stray blond curls feel into his face.  
  
Then he drew a straight line on the ground between them with the wave of his hand.  
  
"Power is drawn to power. You know that as well as I do. You felt it when we first met. You could barely stand being away from me. Remember, the good old days?" he asked.  
  
He stood there so still. Waiting for an answer. He looked like a cocky god with long curled blond hair to his shoulders and bright blue eyes glancing at her suggestively. If she hadn't learned to block her mind from his power she doubted she would last under his heavy gaze let alone his suggestions.  
  
"You've grown stronger since we met last. Pity, you haven't chosen me yet. Is it, I wonder, because of William? Is that who's entered your heart?" he asked, walking over to William and putting his hand over William's shoulder in a brotherly gesture.  
  
She bit her lip feeling the cruelty vibrating from Andrew. She shook her head, "Haven't you forgotten? I have no heart."  
  
He didn't like her answer. His smile vanished so did his patience, "Liar," he replied.  
  
And in the briefest of moments he pulled out a knife from his black overcoat and stabbed his brother right in the heart with it. William dropped to the ground in utter astonishment as he saw the blood over his hands. A moan of surprise and pain infiltrated the air as he did. She knew the wound was mortal. His life was ending fast.  
  
She started forward to do something. To help somehow. But Andrew cut her off and crossed the distance between them. He pushed her against the alleys wall.  
  
There he smiled and looked over her body. He touched her blond hair softly breaking its hold from the headdress and letting the headdress fall to the ground. Then he touched her face, and his hand traveled lower where it slowly found her throat.  
  
He squeezed it hard choking her. She gasped in shock trying to grab his hand away. He let go and let her breathe again. Then he kissed her.  
  
The kiss was just as deadly. She'd felt what he said. The power going through their bodies and joining. It was almost perfect except once it met it crisscrossed out of them creating disaster. The lightning coming from them struck a tree a few feet away and it crashed into roof of the Manor.  
  
She jumped at the crash and he laughed as if it were the greatest thing ever in the world.  
  
"You see what I mean." he played with her hand intertwining their fingers as he watched her.  
  
"It's not right. We shouldn't be able to do that."  
  
"Maybe, we should. We're mortal we're supposed to destroy the world around us."  
  
"You're a lunatic." she hissed.  
  
"Shhh...Let's try for something bigger this time."  
  
He forced her back harder against the wall. The kiss corrupting her mouth again as his hands snaked over her body. All he needed was just a small rush of feeling to get what he wanted and that's exactly what he got.  
  
This time rain started thundering down on them along with the hail. Lightning hit the tree over the Manor creating fire on the tree that sparked in and out in the torrential downpour.  
  
He let go of her mouth again, "You think I'd give this up? Do you know how powerful we'd be together? This is just the beginning."  
  
"No." she whispered.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No, I won't you can't make me. I'd rather die."  
  
His eyes gleamed almost red. Then he let go of her taking his top hat off and throwing it in the rain. He was angry. She had hit a nerve.  
  
"I won't. I will never be yours. You're evil and I'm not. You won't ever change me over. You know that , don't you?" She laughed hysterically, "You know you can't have me and you're pissed."  
  
Whatever else she was going to say was knocked out of her by the wave of his hand as she hit the alleys stone wall roughly. She slid to the ground coughing as the rain poured down on her painfully. He came to her and kneeled beside her. Raising her chin with one finger as she stared at William's lifeless body.  
  
"You have one last chance to join me."  
  
"Never."  
  
"You know I don't need you alive to have your powers."  
  
"I know I'm not stupid."  
  
"Just reminding you. I will miss this. "he said. "But I will enjoy every moment of your death."  
  
"What?" somehow she had believed that he would never kill her. She'd expected him to slowly try to change her over time. Maybe even hold her captive. "No."  
  
"I curse you for this lifetime and the next. May you never know true happiness," he said. Then he added. "You will die young until the day you love me."  
  
She swallowed hard and laughed and laughed as he stared at her. He was the devil. Now he was cursing her like it wasn't enough to live in the same lifetime as him.  
  
"Oh, and Valerie," he said reaching toward her and lying his hand over her breast." This is mine." he said.  
  
In that brief moment she felt everything in her body tearing apart. Her heart shuddered under the strain of his power and tried to fight his magic, but it could only stop. 


	14. Trapped Inside The Cage Of My Soul

Flaveh thank you so much for one of the most awesome reviews I have ever gotten. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------  
  
"Alright, we're all sure we want to let the genie out of the bottle," Phoebe asked as they walked to the girl and stood in their positions over her. If looks could deceive then the girl looked perfectly innocent and defenseless.  
  
Two things that they all knew she wasn't.  
  
"Yeah, already. Let's just get this done and over with so we can save Wyatt." Paige replied, impatiently.  
  
"So, anyone know how to wake her?" Phoebe asked, clapping her hands together.  
  
"I do." Piper said pulling out a small vial from a nearby cabinet. "Smelling salts."  
  
"Since, when did we get those?" Paige asked, her eyebrows raised.  
  
"Since, I thought it would be easier to wake up one of you if a demon attacked then getting Wyatt to heal you and put him in danger while doing so," Piper told Paige.  
  
The girl laid on the floor harmlessly. She was still unconscious to them and what they were planning. Phoebe had to admit the girl didn't really look like that much of a threat while lying there, but of course looks can be deceiving. The girl was lethal.  
  
They all sat on the wooden floor. Piper sat in the very front at the girl's head with her legs drawn beneath her, Phoebe sat on the girls left side cross legged with one of the crystals in her lap ready for use if the girl got rowdy, and Paige sat on the girl's right side in the same position as Piper only with her hands resting on her legs.  
  
Piper gave each of them a warning look. Then, she pulled the cork off the vial and let its powerful contents waft into the girls nostrils. It only took a brief moment to work before the girl's blue eyes burst open.  
  
Victoria took a tortured breath as her vision faded in.  
  
She was no longer with Andrew.  
  
Her heart was beating fiercely and she was in a very junky attic. Didn't they clean anything in between vanquishing demons she wondered as she coughed. She saw a pale hand draw away from her that was holding a vial of some of the most potent smells in the world. She looked up at the hand to see the incarnate of P. Bexter.  
  
"Okay, first things first. Who are you?" Paige asked, interrupting her anxiety attack.  
  
"What do you want with my son?" Piper fiercely asked, at the same moment.  
  
"To kill him haven't you figured that out yet?" Victoria whispered rawly to Piper. She could still feel the ghostly grip of Andrews hand pressuring over her throat.  
  
"Why?" Phoebe asked, confused.  
  
It was hard for Phoebe to believe another human being could be so cold. How even a human could be so matter a fact about trying to kill someone. She could see a demon being that way but never a human.  
  
This girl laying before her seemed cold and calculated and a bit fatigued by everything that had been thrown at her. Underneath it all, Phoebe could sense a deep sadness that kept the girl going that was tearing at her sanity. Phoebe stopped trying to sense the girl's feelings instantly. Otherwise, she felt that the girls sadness would pull her too far in.  
  
"We have unfinished business you could say." Victoria said, simply sighing. She rubbed at her throat gently to try and soothe it. As she did, she looked around her and saw the white crystals caging her in. Smart witches, she thought as she looked at them in irritation. She couldn't break through its defense. She was too weak at the moment to even try.  
  
"But he doesn't know you." Paige responded.  
  
"Oh, he knows me." Victoria answered bitterly. In her head, she saw him with his intense blue eyes gazing over her as if she were his own prized possession. She could still feel his mouth roughly corrupting hers after he'd killed his only brother without any remorse.  
  
"Uh, no he doesn't. For all he knows you're just some lunatic off the street." Phoebe said truthfully with a slight bitter laugh.  
  
"A lunatic. Hmm." Victoria repeated as she stretched her cramping body. She was still laying on her back in an awkward position.  
  
The sisters watched her waiting to see if she was ready to try to get out of their magic circle. She didn't though. She just laid there like a lazy house cat and looked up at the ceiling emotionlessly. A bleakness was almost passing over her as she did.  
  
Piper looked at her in disbelief.  
  
Anything coming from the girl was better then this. She'd expected more of a fight or something to come from her. Instead, the girl was just lying there defeated and waiting to die. Piper wouldn't let her die so quickly. Her son needed the girl to save him and if it was the last thing she did Piper was going to make the girl do just that.  
  
If that meant bringing the girl back into reality by force her she would.  
  
"Hey, bitch. You hurt my son. You're lucky we let you live. "Piper yelled at her.  
  
She would not let this girl get the upper hand. She wouldn't let her ignore what was going on and she would punish her if she chose to be indifferent to the chaos she'd created.  
  
"Please, you don't expect me to believe that load of nonsense? The reason why you kept me alive is because you don't know how to wake him up yourself. Am I right or am I wrong?" Victoria replied defensively turning onto her stomach to look at each one of them in turn. Her blue-violet eyes seeing through them more then they wanted her to.  
  
Piper though was the most pleased by the girl's come back. This way she at least had the girl's attention and could have some upper hand over her.  
  
"Okay, so you've got us there. So explain yourself." Paige responded, leaning forward.  
  
Paige just couldn't wait to hear this one.  
  
She wanted to know exactly why this girl was willing to risk killing herself in the process of stopping Wyatt's life. Sure, other demons had done so in the past, but Paige knew there was something definitely different with the girl laying on the hardwood floor in front of her. There was just something about the girl that almost unnerved her. Besides how powerful she was, of course.  
  
"Can you handle the truth?" Victoria laughed bitterly.  
  
"Shall we show you how serious we are about this?" Phoebe asked , matter of factly holding up the white crystal to signify she had the power to torture the girl if she wanted. She gave her a small smile as she did. Hoping that she had made herself crystal clear.  
  
"As much as I'd love to get electrocuted by you I'd rather not." Victoria answered with a sneer. "Ask away."  
  
Victoria gave up slowly as she looked at each of the sisters. They stood for everything she had been against in both her lives, but now watching them and their strength in witchcraft she almost wished she had embraced it. Maybe, things would be different now if she had. Maybe, a lot of people she loved wouldn't have been murdered.  
  
She sighed and looked at the floor. It cooled her body as she tried to drive away the painful bruises that were spreading over her from her attack on Andrew.  
  
She was dead either way, she knew. Letting her know that her son, and their nephew was evil might even help her cause. She doubted it with how they were treating her at the present moment and how they had reacted before. She guessed she could at least try to let them know a little of the extent of his evil intentions were.  
  
They wanted to know why she was there. So, she would tell them why she was there and she wouldn't sugarcoat the truth for them either.  
  
For a moment, a sad expression passed over her features and reached her eyes as she looked up at them. Piper caught the sight of the sadness reaching the girl's eyes. The sadness made her look wiser then her age allowed.  
  
Piper knew instantly that the girl was ready to talk.  
  
"Let's start with our first question again. Who are you?" Piper started, getting back to business and not looking into the girl's eyes as she said it.  
  
Instead, she looked at both her sisters. Phoebe was searching the girl Piper could tell. Whatever she felt was intense enough for Phoebe to seem to draw away from the girl physically. Piper knew her sister hadn't realized she had moved back and inch away while she was searching the girl, but Phoebe had when she had found something too intense to deal with at the present moment.  
  
She knew her sister must have felt the girl's charged emotions. She wondered silently if they helped the girl or betrayed her.  
  
"How do you expect me to answer that?" Victoria asked, sighing in exasperation.  
  
"Let's find out."  
  
Piper was done with waiting for answers. She took the white crystal roughly from a stunned Phoebe and placed it inside the circle. Victoria spasmed as she was electrocuted. A few coils of smoke wafting off of her shaking body.  
  
For a moment, the bloodlust from earlier that day came through Piper's blood again as she watched the girl shaking on the floor. How does it feel to be powerless? she asked the girl silently.  
  
"Stop it, you fool." Victoria rasped out still withering on the floor like a wild animal that had been hit by car.  
  
Piper took control of herself and stopped.  
  
She pulled the crystal back from the circle to her own body. Then, she gave a coolly collected smile to the girl. She wanted the girl to know that she was in control here not the other way around and that she was willing to give the girl hell for what she'd done to her son let alone her family.  
  
Here, under these circumstances, the sisters had the upper hand.  
  
"I'm Victoria Adams formerly Valerie Richards." Victoria said, in a ragged breathless voice.  
  
"What do you mean formerly?" Paige asked, confused.  
  
Paige was still unaccustomed to Piper's violent reaction to the girl before them. She knew the girl deserved every bit of it, but she wasn't sure why Piper kept going off. Piper had become a time bomb.  
  
And if Piper kept doing that there wouldn't be a girl left to answer their questions to save Wyatt. Paige watched Piper out of the corner of her eye. The smile Piper gave the girl was enough to give her nightmares for a week.  
  
"Well, that's the answer to your next question." Victoria answered.  
  
"Oh really. Care to elaborate?" Piper asked, she let the crystal stay within easy sight of the girl by throwing it up in the air and catching it.  
  
"My pleasure. Your beloved son right there and I were... involved in our last lifetime. After what he did, I decided to settle the score in this one." Victoria told them in a cold voice with hatred as her eyes followed the crystal in Piper's hands like a cat watching yarn being flung around for it to play with.  
  
"Awe, did he leave you for someone else so you decided to strike back at him real good in this lifetime? You poor baby," Paige said, pouting dramatically and using a patronizing voice.  
  
"No, you cretin. I'm here to try to right his wrongs." Victoria cried in her own defense.  
  
"Okay, stop with the riddles." Phoebe broke in. It was the first time in a long time she had had the strength to get out what she needed to say out. Piper and Paige both took in the fact that Phoebe looked like she was wreck silently.  
  
"I was. He is evil" Victoria told Phoebe. "As simple as that."  
  
"What? That's not possible we solved that problem ." Paige said, softly.  
  
"Oh really? So, he really didn't evolve in this lifetime as he should have." Victoria pondered, sitting up inside the crystal circle.  
  
In a weird way, for the casual observer it almost looked as if the girls were all together having a dysfunctional form of a slumber party.  
  
"No, he did evolve. We just had past issues." Phoebe reassured her.  
  
"Never mind that. That is none of your business" Piper declared.  
  
"Really," Victoria asked. She was looking head on into Piper's light brown eyes just trying to make her throw the crystal back into the circle to incinerate her. Then, she would start all over again and Wyatt would be dead to them.  
  
She hoped Piper would take the bate, but she knew Piper wasn't going to. Piper would torture her like there was no tomorrow but she wouldn't vanquish her till she'd served her purpose.  
  
"Yes, really. Now start talking before we pulverize you." Piper warned.  
  
"God, I just can't believe the Elders let the greatest power of all time reside in you three as Charmed Ones," Victoria said in disbelief and disgust.  
  
The crystal in Piper's hand was instantly thrown back into the circle again. Victoria would have laughed at hitting Piper's nerves if it hadn't been for the ongoing rush of electricity radiantly pursuing her body with jolts of pain. 


	15. Is The Answer In The Question

"Now, let's try this again. What did he do to you in your last life?" Piper said, smiling at Victoria's discomfort.  
  
They all had been pissed at Victoria's last answer.  
  
For her to say they were degenerate witches and didn't deserve the powers they had had really struck a chord.  
  
Especially for Piper who had given up her normal life expectancies and a whole hell of a lot of love to help save innocents every day. She'd put her whole life and dreams on hold just so that she could do that. She had never even liked the fact that the whole worlds fate was always resting on their backs.  
  
She was the oldest sister now, also. She had lost more then just her social life when they had decided to keep their powers. They'd given up a beloved sister.  
  
Prue had given up her life just to save an innocent.  
  
They had all given up something of their own to save people everyday. It was their destiny. One that they lived up to as much as they could.  
  
Instead, of getting an answer from Victoria they had gotten disgust at them for being the all powerful Charmed Ones. After everything that had happened that day that had been the last straw. Piper had instinctively threw the crystal right back into the circle at Victoria.  
  
She'd wanted to make the girl hurt as much as she did.  
  
Paige leaned away from the chaos inside the circle. She scrunched her face up as she saw Victoria withering in pain. She had to admit it. Piper had did something that if she had had the crystal she would have done just as quickly.  
  
How dare she put them down!  
  
After everything they did for the world to be a safer place Paige would have gladly thrown the crystal into the circle herself. Hell, she would have thrown in a few crystals just to intensify Victoria's pain. Just to remind her who it was she was dealing with. Paige smirked a little knowing that Victoria was finally learning her lesson.  
  
Phoebe, however sat on the other side of her sisters and was worried by the bloodlust surrounding the room.  
  
She was even more freaked out by the fact that Victoria, even though she was withering in pain, was amused by it all. She looked at the Victoria's face which was scrunched up in pain, but almost through the pain she cold almost see a faint smile trying to play over her dry lips. She could feel laughter bubbling up inside Victoria's body.  
  
So, she had planned on this. Victoria had been looking for a nerve to strike to push Piper over the edge during the whole conversation. She had found one. And soon she would be successful with her plan of dying.  
  
If the torture kept up for much longer she could tell Victoria would be dead.  
  
Phoebe quickly grabbed the crystal from the circle and stood away from her sisters. They both looked up at her in surprise. They'd wanted to watch Victoria be tortured for a little longer, but they hadn't realized how much weaker Victoria had become from Wyatt's powers. Phoebe did and she wouldn't let her sisters let alone Victoria get away with murder.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Piper asked, standing up with her hands on her hips.  
  
Paige stayed on the floor looking up at them like a child watching her parents arguing. She looked over at Victoria who was trying to catch her breath on the floor. Smoke was all over the ground around them like a fog that appeared in a horror movie before someone was killed.  
  
Phoebe didn't back down.  
  
"I'm trying to save Wyatt. What exactly are you doing?"  
  
"I was teaching her a lesson before you interrupted it. Give me the crystal," Piper ordered with her hand out expectantly.  
  
Phoebe looked at her and half laughed.  
  
Somehow in that moment she had remembered Piper as a child.  
  
Whenever Phoebe had had a cooler toy or something Piper had always done what she was doing now. She'd always demanded the toy for herself to play with. If she didn't get it she'd use force to get it back.  
  
The one hand had been on Piper's hip and the other had been waiting expectantly for the toy. Phoebe looked done at the crystal. She sure wasn't going to give her sister the power to kill the girl. If she was the only sensible person here at the moment she wasn't going to give the crystal up to someone out of their mind with grief.  
  
Phoebe put the crystal behind her back half expecting her sister to pounce on her and sit on her like she had done when they were kids till she caved in and gave her back the crystal, "No way, Piper."  
  
"Why may I ask?" Piper asked, putting both her hands on her hips now.  
  
"Because, Piper. This is exactly what she wants. She has been trying to find something to set you off all evening. She knows that if she hits your nerve hard enough you'll leave the crystal in there and kill her off before she can help save Wyatt. That's her plan. She's not stupid Piper."  
  
"Oh, and how do you now know her so well?" Piper asked, annoyance all over her face.  
  
"Because I am a empath. I can feel her feelings and sometimes if they are strong enough I can read her thoughts." Phoebe reminded her older sister.  
  
"Oh, sure. Just bring your empath powers into this," Piper sneered.  
  
Wow, she really was acting like a child. Phoebe shook her head, "Piper, she's been acting this whole time. Wyatt and her battle really took a lot out of her. She knew that if she hit a nerve you would think she was still strong enough to endure torture and you'd end up killing her. She's been planning on that."  
  
"It does make sense, Piper." Paige added, still sitting on the floor.  
  
Victoria had finally caught her breath and was giggling fiercely now. Both Piper and Phoebe stared down at her in surprise.  
  
Phoebe was willing to think that she'd gone crazy with all the pain she had just went through. Victoria laid on the floor laughing at them. Then, she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position as the laughter calmed a bit. Her dark reddish brown hair falling in her eyes as she did. Then, she waved a finger at them.  
  
Phoebe was about ready to vouch for the girl's insanity.  
  
Piper look back and forth from both of them. Seeing Phoebe's slight uncertainty as Victoria laughed hysterically. Then she pulled her sister back to the circle where they resumed their spots on the floor.  
  
"Okay, answer me. What did he do?" Piper asked, yet again.  
  
The girl brushed her hair back from her face and took a deep breath. The giggling was almost gone and no remnants of it were left over her face as she answered, "He pursued me. Well, stalked me is more like it. When I didn't return his attentions he decided to teach me a lesson. He started out small by killing my cat. Then, he went after my family by turning my sister into a lunatic. Then he had my parents kill each other."  
  
"Wait. What made you so special?" Paige asked.  
  
"At the time, I didn't realize it. Now, I know it was because of his lust for power. The only other stronger individuals besides him or I were the cousins that lived here. Or should I say you and you," she said indicating Piper and Phoebe. To Paige she said, "Except for you. I have no idea where you came from."  
  
"So, you knew us in a past life?" Phoebe asked, wonderingly.  
  
"Well, of you. I was going to ask for your help with a potion to make me resistant to his affections. But I never had the chance."  
  
"You were there the night I died?" Phoebe asked, instantly curious.  
  
"Yes and no." the girl responded, sighing.  
  
"Huh?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Well, I was there till you and the other girl started to fight, but William came and pulled me away. At the time, I thought it was because he was afraid of me getting hurt," she told Phoebe.  
  
For a moment, Phoebe almost felt as if the Victoria's defenses were slowly coming down. She didn't know for how long the defenses would stay that way. Of all of them, Phoebe seemed to be one that she seemed to be okay with. Phoebe wondered if that was because of her almost being her savior in the her last lifetime.  
  
"William? That's what you called Chris." Piper said, piecing it together.  
  
"Because he is.. was William," Victoria answered as Phoebe saw her start to pull back.  
  
"So what happened?" Phoebe asked, trying to keep Victoria going.  
  
"He took me outside. In the alley beside your house and that's where I found out that he and Andrew were brothers."  
  
"Andrew, would that be Wyatt?" Paige asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How do you know that your cat didn't just die of old age? Or your sister wasn't already crazy? Or your parents weren't suffering from post traumatic stress from you sister's death that drove them to murdering each other?" Paige asked, inquisitively.  
  
"Because I felt his power," the girl instantly responded, defensively. "And I was there. He made me witness his cruelty."  
  
The sisters were quiet a moment trying to wrap this new information around in their heads.  
  
Then, all their eyes turned to Wyatt laying unconscious on the bed.  
  
Chris had said when he'd come back from the future before that Wyatt had been evil. They had never found out exactly what Wyatt had done but they had a general idea that it had to be a hell of a lot worse then anything they were used to. Just imagining him evil in this lifetime was scary enough with all of his powers to ride off of let alone in his last lifetime.  
  
"He gave me a last chance that night. When I didn't take it he cursed me to a life without happiness. If I experienced it then I would suffer, or else everyone around me would suffer. He also cursed me to die young while he took my life away from me." she told them quietly. 


	16. Have I Got A Deal For You

"Whoa, I can't believe Wyatt would do that." Phoebe said.  
  
None of them could. They had all seen Wyatt grow up from a sweet baby to a good human being. For heaven's sake, when he'd been in Piper's womb he had even stopped her powers from killing other demons and created pretty things to blow up around them instead.  
  
"Believe it," the girl answered, roughly.  
  
"Okay, so say we do. We just can't help you kill our nephew." Paige said, incredulously as she shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"I see your point. But, of course, I'm not asking for your help," Victoria informed them coldly.  
  
Phoebe hated to admit it, but Victoria had to be one of the most stubborn people on earth. Phoebe sighed and placed her head in her hands for a moment. Too much information was coming into her head in such a small amount of time. She felt an instant headache coming on.  
  
"Yeah, you know what I mean." Paige said.  
  
"So what do you propose, oh all knowing ones?" Victoria asked, sarcastically.  
  
She was curious how the all powerful Charmed Ones were going to handle this one. She was, of course, an innocent. On the other hand, she had tried to kill Piper's son and their nephew. Their family bond was so strong. Of course, so was their dedication to help innocents. So, she was just waiting for whatever they were planning on doing.  
  
"Um, excuse us." Phoebe said making quick hand motions to everyone to follow her out of earshot.  
  
Piper and Paige quickly rose and followed her over to the door leading out of the attic. Phoebe gave them a quick glance to make sure they had followed. Then, she exited the attic, but stopped in the hallway leaving the door partially open so that they could see in and see what Victoria was doing.  
  
The three huddled as Victoria stared over at Wyatt bitterly.  
  
"Well, what do you think?" Phoebe asked, clapping her hands together and biting her lip.  
  
"I think she's trying to piss me off." Piper replied, placing her hands on her hips.  
  
"Besides that, honey." Phoebe responded with a half smile.  
  
"I think she's telling the truth," Paige added.  
  
"Good observation, Paige. Now what do we do about it," Phoebe asked, looking back at Victoria. Who was at the moment sitting on the floor checking her arms and legs for any damages.  
  
"Stop her from killing Wyatt." Piper replied.  
  
"Hey, we stopped her. She's talking with us civilly. I guess.. So.." Paige ended, motioning with her arm for someone to throw some ideas out in the air.  
  
"So, what Paige?" Piper said, still worried as she gazed back at Wyatt.  
  
"So, I say we help." Paige answered.  
  
She was waiting for Piper to explode. Yell at her or something. Maybe even discredit her opinion again like she had before, but she didn't. Piper just gave her a look of disbelief.  
  
"I'm not killing my son," Piper told them.  
  
"No way. Piper I would never agree to that. He's my nephew. I'm not heartless. I'm just saying we need to find a different way," Paige said.  
  
"Okay, what other way," Phoebe asked motioning at the unconscious Wyatt.  
  
"Um, I don't know I was looking for suggestions." Paige remarked, giving Phoebe an annoyed look.  
  
"Okay, Phoebe any help from the peanut gallery?" Piper asked, rubbing her forehead stressfully.  
  
"Uh, well. Maybe, just maybe, we could have her wake up Wyatt. Then, we could have him say the past life spell." Phoebe tried, shaking her head in a 'I don't know stop picking on me' movement.  
  
"Okay, then what?" Paige asked.  
  
Paige wouldn't let Phoebe get off that easily. Phoebe was the one that always could think on her toes. She had the whole survival instinct down pat. Plus, Phoebe had told her the story about her own past life coming back to nip her in the butt. If anyone had any clue or any suggestion noteworthy on the matter it was her.  
  
"Then we make sure what she said is the truth and with whatever info he gets from the past we can try to use now in the present." Phoebe said, trying to appeal the plan with Piper.  
  
"Okay. That's one big maybe," Piper said, acknowledging that was the only idea that they could go off of. That is, without killing her son.  
  
"Yeah, and I'm thinking she could just wake Wyatt up with a flick of her hand, but I don't think she's going to." Paige said, her eyes slitting in suspicion as she watched Victoria looking at them calmly from the circle.  
  
"Would you? If everything she said is true?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"No." Paige said, truthfully.  
  
"That's not the point though. Wyatt's good. She's evil..kinda..." Piper said.  
  
"Okay. Whatever. Let's try to strike a compromise." Paige remarked annoyed.  
  
"Fine," Phoebe agreed.  
  
"Fine. But if she blows up anything in this house you're paying for it, Missy." Piper said, pointing her finger at Paige. 


	17. Let's Agree To Disagree

"Okay. We've come to believe that you may be telling the truth." Phoebe told Victoria.  
  
They all had entered the room quietly. As they did, Victoria had slowly stood up straight as if ready to be sent to death sentence. The sisters all exchanged a look with one another unsure of what to expect. Paige bit her lip and gave Phoebe a small 'you better hope you were right about this' look.  
  
"May be? Why would I lie?" Victoria asked.  
  
"Well, why not? From what you've done so far we have a tendency to believe you're evil to." Paige said, pursing her lips together.  
  
"So then what do you witches propose?" Victoria asked, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"Well, firstly. We'll let you get out of this cage if and only if you wake Wyatt up." Piper said, standing in front of Victoria confidently.  
  
"Yeah, with no hocus pocus. No tricks either." Paige added, pointedly. She was still kind of reeling form the last attack even though she'd only felt the brunt of it.  
  
"How do I profit?" Victoria asked, coolly raising her eyebrow.  
  
"Well, we'll let you get out of the cage," Piper said, simply as if she were talking to a small child. She was offering Victoria's freedom and the possibility of a temporary alliance between them until they had figured out what side Victoria was truly on. If she were Victoria she would have jumped on the solution being offered.  
  
"And the curse?" Victoria reminded them.  
  
That was what Victoria was really there for.  
  
She'd come to either stop the curse from happening to her again or else to get revenge on the evil that had cursed her in the first place. Of course, the minute Victoria had walked in the door her revenge had possessed her and because of it their precious Wyatt wasn't going to be coming back anytime soon.  
  
Victoria didn't know what to think of the sisters. They actually were going to help her. They actually were trying to set up a deal where they could both win. After everything she had done, they were still willing to help her.  
  
Or else they were only going to use her and somehow trick her into believing they would help her cause and then just vanquish her.  
  
Either way she would be dead. It was such a complicated situation.  
  
"Well, once you wake Wyatt we'll get him to go back into his past life. Where, hopefully, he can find a few clues out about saving you in this lifetime. While that happens, you can change into something less ruined. And you can take a shower and get that smoke smell out," Paige said, wrinkling her nose.  
  
"Oh," Victoria said simply.  
  
She let her guard down for a moment. She looked down at her ruined shirt sadly. There was a large gaping sooty black fringed hole in the center of her white shirt. It extended from her stomach right down to where the shirt had ended.  
  
Suddenly, as she looked down, her nose started to bleed.  
  
"Um, how did that happen?" Paige asked.  
  
Victoria shook her head in shock as she touched her nose gingerly. Blood fell onto her pale fingers as she looked down. Maybe, it was a delayed reaction of how painful the attack had been on her, she thought. But deep down she knew it was the curse just reminding her of the short amount of time she had left to live.  
  
"We don't really know everything here, and even though you attacked us, blew up our house," Piper started softly.  
  
"Etc, etc, etc," Paige added, rolling her eyes.  
  
"We're willing to help you. That is if you promise to let us figure this out without killing Wyatt." Phoebe finished for her sisters. Trying to make what they were telling Victoria end in a nicer fashion that might actually get Victoria to possibly join their side.  
  
"So, it's a deal?" Paige asked.  
  
Victoria looked over at Wyatt silently for a moment. Maybe, they were right about him. In this life, at least. Maybe, he was worth saving. "You have untill midnight. Do you think you can do it?"  
  
"Hopefully, we've had time limits before. Don't worry, Cinderella we'll get you home by midnight." Paige said, giving Victoria a small smile.  
  
"We are the Charmed Ones." Phoebe added, grinning also while she hoped that would tip the scale in their favor.  
  
"Why does that not make me feel any better?" Victoria asked, looking at them with tears threatening her. 


	18. Deep In Your Wake

"Is it a deal?" Piper asked.  
  
Fine," Victoria answered in agreement.  
  
Piper nodded in her own agreement to the bargain. Paige then slowly collected the white crystals from around Victoria and put then by the Book of Shadows. Hoping the whole time, that what they were doing for the best. That it wouldn't come back and nip them in the butt later.  
  
As she did, Wyatt who was laying on the bed across from them started coughing sporadically. The coughs seemed to overwhelm his body in tremors as he spasmed in discomfort. His face, if it were possible, was even paler then it had been before. Piper swallowed in the fear of knowing she was losing her son.  
  
"Now, save him!" Piper commanded, pointing at her son as the urgency of the situation became evident.  
  
Victoria walked over to the white bed and gently sat down beside him. Touching his face lightly and pushing his hair away, she looked for some goodness in him.  
  
Phoebe almost laughed in amusement as her thoughts took a sudden turn on the situation. They almost looked like they were lovers.. doomed lovers even. Maybe, even like a modern day Romeo and Juliet.  
  
"It's funny you know. You see him as a paragon of goodness and all I see when I look at him is death." Victoria told them softly.  
  
"Yeah, but that was his last lifetime. He's evolved from that now." Phoebe answered.  
  
"Trust us we know," Piper added.  
  
Victoria looked down over him and hoped that they knew what they were talking about.  
  
A glow of red came from her hand as she started to bring him back.  
  
Piper watched in confusion at the red glow from Victoria's hand. Red? Why red? She'd seen whitelighters use white light to heal and she'd seen darklighters heal with black light, but she'd never seen red.  
  
She wondered who's side Victoria could be on.  
  
Mentally, she reminded herself to find out everything she could about her when Leo came back.  
  
When Victoria was done she stayed beside Wyatt out of breath and holding onto the black bedpost firmly to stay sitting up.  
  
"Whoa, are you okay?" Paige asked, confused at seeing Victoria without her strength.  
  
"I'm fine. It just takes a lot out of me," Victoria replied, tiredly.  
  
"Funny it takes more effort for you to do good then evil." Piper said, pointedly.  
  
"Oh, everything takes effort." Victoria defended.  
  
"It didn't seem that way earlier when you were like the freaking energizer bunny," Paige insisted.  
  
"Or Terminator. He had that whole agenda to kill thing," Phoebe argued.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, she's definitely more Terminator," Paige agreed.  
  
"I get it," Victoria replied, exasperated.  
  
Wyatt slowly opened his blue eyes.  
  
His blue eyes started trying to focus on anything around him. His eyes slowly started to come around and gave him a fuzzy view of everything while his mind started to register his surroundings.  
  
He didn't know what had happened, but he sure was comfy.  
  
He looked across from him and saw a girl sitting there beside him on the bed. Her reddish- brown hair was falling in her face and her blue-violet eyes were so intense as she looked down on him. She was beautiful. He almost smiled at her.  
  
There was something tugging on his memory, but he didn't really understand what it was as he looked at her.  
  
He had to be in heaven. Her eyes filled his vision as he stared into them. There was something about those eyes that started his feelings to come back. It wasn't happiness for her being there with him though. It was something else. It was fear.  
  
Instantly, he remembered everything that had just happened to him.  
  
He looked at the girl beside him for one more second then he instinctively rolled himself right off the bed as fast as possible.  
  
"Wyatt! It's okay," Piper cried.  
  
"Wyatt, no!" both Paige and Phoebe yelled at the same time.  
  
In instants, he'd thrown an energy ball straight at Victoria before any of their words could even register in his mind.  
  
Instead, his brain was on overdrive. He had to take her out. He had to kill her before she hurt his family. He had to do it while she wasn't anticipating it and this seemed to be the best moment for that.  
  
Victoria impatiently put her hand up and a wall of red blinding light came crashing up to absorb the energy ball. Strangely, the wall was a lot like Wyatt's defense field.  
  
Wyatt sent another right after the first to try to break down the wall, but Piper quickly froze this one as she made her way over to him. As she went to him, Paige and Phoebe scrambled to the opposite side to pull Victoria out of the way of the other energy ball and then they stood in front of Victoria and blocked Wyatt from his target.  
  
"No, Wyatt. Do you hear me?" Piper asked, holding his arm back from shooting another energy ball at her.  
  
"What? But, mom. She.." he tried, completely out of the loop.  
  
"I know what she did and now we're going to calm down and help her." Piper replied in a hard voice.  
  
"No way!" Wyatt cried as he looked at his mother.  
  
He couldn't believe what she was saying. He'd been out for a minute or two and now she was collaborating with the enemy. What was wrong with her? That was not at all like her.  
  
Maybe, the girl had done something when he'd been knocked out. Like put a spell over them and since he was knocked out he was the only one to not be affected by it.  
  
"Yes way." Piper argued.  
  
"What is everyone under a spell? She almost killed all of us and all you have to say is to calm down and help her. Are you insane?" Wyatt cried, as he waved his hand at his two aunts protecting her.  
  
"I just might be. But guess what? She saved you." Piper announced.  
  
"Her? You're kidding right?" Watt laughed bitterly crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"No, I am so not kidding," Piper said firmly.  
  
"Mom," he whined. Realizing she wasn't going to back down.  
  
"Look, she thought you were someone else. She's sorry for what she did to you, alright?" Piper said, hoping that Wyatt wasn't paying attention to the snort that came from Victoria's direction.  
  
"She's an innocent and we have to help her." Piper continued.  
  
"Her? An innocent? Mom, she's evil!" Wyatt argued.  
  
"Wyatt, if she was so evil she wouldn't have healed you." Piper responded.  
  
"Healed me? What?" He cried.  
  
He hadn't been awake for too long but even this was way too hard to believe. She had come into their house to kill them. She almost had. So, why would she change her mind all of a sudden and decide to save him?  
  
"You were gone. Your father healed you, but you weren't here. So we all struck a deal with her. She brought you back so we have to help her." Piper told him.  
  
"I don't get it. Where was I?" he asked.  
  
"I can answer that one if you don't blow my head off," Victoria interrupted from the sidelines, sarcastically.  
  
"Okay, then where?" he asked, defensively.  
  
"The Netherworld." she offered.  
  
"What!?! How did I get there?" He yelled.  
  
"Well, honey. Your body was here. It was just that your soul wasn't." Piper offered the only explanation she could think up.  
  
"How?" Wyatt asked.  
  
"It was easy. You're shields weren't up and by just tapping into your consciousness with my power I was able to transport you there." Victoria answered, shrugging her shoulders as if it were no big deal.  
  
"Easy?" Wyatt asked as he turned to his mother. "Mom, you just made a deal with the devil."  
  
"Actually, my name is Victoria," Victoria announced. She couldn't help smiling at how he was reacting to everything. It wasn't at all like she had expected. Not at all like what Andrew would have done.  
  
"Look, I don't care who you are. I just want you dead." he threatened.  
  
"Careful what you wish for," Paige said, softly giving a slight frown and looking around.  
  
"Huh?" Wyatt asked.  
  
"Well, it seems you took care of that for us, sweetie. You already cursed her in your last life." Piper told him.  
  
"Wow. Really? Cool! See, I told you she was evil." he said, confidently smiling like he was the king of the world.  
  
"Actually, you were the evil one." Phoebe informed him.  
  
"No I wasn't," Wyatt disagreed, sounding like an ignorant child.  
  
"Hello, I relived it today. Yes, you were," Victoria said, vehemently.  
  
"Mom, how could I be evil? I'm good." Wyatt asked.  
  
"In this life you are, but I don't know about your last one, honey." Piper responded.  
  
"That's why we need you to go back in time and see what you did. Hopefully, you can even figure out how to stop the curse from killing her again in this life." Paige explained.  
  
"And how does this plan not seem like you made a pact with the devil?" Wyatt asked.  
  
"Wyatt, please. She fulfilled her end of the bargain. Do this for me." Piper pleaded.  
  
Wyatt took a moment. Then, he relented. "Fine, mom. But not with her up here."  
  
"Okay, good. At least, we finally got that resolved." Phoebe said, clapping her hands together with a smile.  
  
"Alright, you guys get him set up. I'll try to find something for her to wear and get her all cleaned up." Paige said, taking Victoria's arm to start her towards the doorway.  
  
"Hey, I'll help. I can't just pass up a chance to talk with someone else who's seen their past life, now can I ?" Phoebe said, quickly going after them. 


	19. If These Scars Could Speak

Piper and Wyatt were finally left alone up in the quiet attic.  
  
Piper quickly gave her son a small hug happy that he was safe and sound. He seemed like his old self. It was almost like it had never happened. But she knew it had and she knew there was a limited amount of time to help Victoria. So, she decided to look him over more thoroughly later.  
  
She quickly hurried over to the Book of Shadows to find the spell that Phoebe had used so many years ago. It seemed like forever ago when Phoebe's past life had come to haunt her new one. They'd had to battle a lot of magic and Phoebe's ex lover to save Phoebe.  
  
Prue had still been alive it had been that long ago.  
  
Wyatt watched his mother flipping through the immensely filled pages of the Book of Shadows. Still, he had reservations on whether or not they should help Victoria. He preferred thinking she was the devil and that one minute his mother and his aunts would wake up from whatever spell she'd put them under and vanquish her sorry ass.  
  
"I don't trust her, mom." Wyatt told Piper as he sat back down on the bed.  
  
"That's okay. Leave her up to me." Piper responded, pushing her dark brown hair under her ears so she could see the spells words better.  
  
"What happened when I was gone?" Wyatt asked, as he nervously played with some pillow fluff that had come out of one to the old yellowing pillows Chris had used to prop him up.  
  
"I'll tell you when you're older," Piper kidded, her mind still on the book.  
  
"Mom!" he cried.  
  
"Alright, already. "Piper cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "I saw something in her, Wyatt. Something that makes me believe she isn't really evil. I know it seems crazy to you, but trust me on it." Piper told him seriously.  
  
"Fine, but I'm not staying in the same room with her." He said giving up on most of the attempt to change his mother's mind on the matter of the she- devil.  
  
"Gotcha. Okay dokey, you say this spell and it'll take you back to see your past life," Piper said bringing the book to Wyatt where he was sitting on the bed.  
  
"You just want me to watch?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, that's how the spell is worded anyhow. There's no reason for you to try to change anything either. Besides, if you did we would have a lot more trouble on our hands then we do now and neither of us wants that." she told him.  
  
Piper lightly ruffled Wyatt's blond hair playfully, "While you're there see if she is telling the truth. Oh, and don't forget to see if you can figure out a way to stop the curse."  
  
"Now, mom, are you sure that's all you want me to do? You don't happen to need me to go and find out who Jack the Ripper was or something while I am out there on the astral plane?" he asked, sarcastically.  
  
She gave him a slight slap to the arm," Wyatt, we both know that the astral plane really has nothing to do with you going back to your past life. Geez, have I taught you nothing in life?" she joked, a smile corrupting her mouth for once.  
  
"You're asking a lot, Mom." he said, truthfully.  
  
"I know, sweetie. But you are the only one that can figure this out for all of us." she responded.  
  
"I know and that sucks, mom. It really sucks."  
  
"Well, look at it this way. You are always belly aching about how you never get enough vanquishes for your own. So, here's your chance. This whole thing is riding on you, Wyatt.." she smiled, mischievously. "Think you can handle it?"  
  
She knew her son would take the bait. He couldn't pass up a challenge. Let alone a chance to be in the spotlight for doing something for an innocent.  
  
"Hell yeah," he responded. "Where's the spell?" 


	20. This Will All Make Perfect Sense One Day

Chris stood on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge pacing back and forth while down several feet below him cars raced along its surface with passengers trying to go home to their own lives and several feet below them the crashing ocean churned wildly.  
  
He'd been there ever since his mother and aunts had started on their insane rampage of helping the girl who had attacked them  
  
He was still ready to vouch for them being crazy.  
  
They had to be. There was no other way his mother would let some demon come into the house and just take over. That was just plain nonsense. She was stronger then that. Hell, she was like a lit fuse half the time always ready to go off at any moment the way her temper was.  
  
So, when his aunts and his mother had said that they would help the girl who had attacked Wyatt let alone destroyed the Manor and not just vanquish the bitch right on the spot he had been pretty pissed.  
  
What the hell were they thinking?  
  
That they would just wake up demon girl and they'd all become such great friends. This wasn't an episode of Sesame Street. They should know better. Especially, after all those years that they had been together vanquishing demons and saving the world. When had they ever found a demon that they could get along with?  
  
He thought about it for a moment. Yeah, he was right.  
  
No such demon existed.  
  
He kicked a beam angrily. What were they thinking?  
  
As soon as the pain filtered through his body at what he had just done to himself and he had fallen to his knees he also asked the same question of himself.  
  
Damn, that hurt.  
  
Why were they doing this?  
  
Wyatt was hurt. Probably, dying because of the girl. The best thing that they could possibly do is vanquish her and then see if her powers stopped running their course when she was dead. They'd stopped when she'd been unconscious why wouldn't they not stop when she was dead?  
  
But no.  
  
Chris was the child. Chris was too young to know what he was talking about. No, he couldn't possibly know or even have all the experience as they did to have any right to go against what they were trying to do.  
  
They were going to wake the demon girl up. Then, they were going to talk to her like rational adults and then possibly set her free. Once she was free she would just kill all of them. Why couldn't they see that? Why were they blind to that?  
  
He almost kicked the beam again but stopped himself short. The last thing he needed right now was more pain to add to his frustrations.  
  
Why were they being so stupid?  
  
Phoebe, he could see her possibly taking a stance to see what was up with the demon girl. Phoebe, at times, was more soft hearted towards the evil crowd. It must've been her lifetimes where she was evil or her past source of all evil ex-husband that dredged that one up out of her.  
  
He had never expected Paige to go along with Phoebe. Paige was the sensible one. She was practical. She vanquished demons on cue and she was always ready to vanquish another one. She'd been against the idea for awhile, but then what happened? Why...how even could she agree with Phoebe?  
  
If Paige hadn't agreed then mom wouldn't have had to go along with it. They all had that damn system set up since the days Prue had been alive. That damned voting system. If two of the sisters saw the same side on a matter the other sister had to go along with it whether they liked it or not.  
  
Why did they have to vote the wrong way on this issue?  
  
"Mom, how could you be so stupid?" he asked, the wind blowing around him crazily warning him of the storm he was creating with his mood. He didn't bother to push away the strands of brown hair that flew into his eyes as he looked angrily out at the ocean.  
  
He was still going through more and more venting issues when a spiral of blue and white orbs floated in next to him.  
  
He was waiting to see Paige there ready to take him back home so his mom could try to talk sense into him. She would try to get him to go home with her by sugarcoating the truth by telling him Piper had calmed down and wouldn't yell at him, but he'd know better.  
  
Of course, if it wasn't Paige doing his mom's dirty work then it might actually be mom. If she'd came after him on her own by using the baby's powers, then he knew he was in for it.  
  
Instead of either of them, his father appeared. He was still wearing his Elders robes and he didn't seem very happy at the moment. Leo's blue eyes looked straight into his son's as he appeared on the bridge.  
  
It hadn't taken much time to find Chris.  
  
The bridge had always been his favorite place to go to get away from it all. Leo hated violating Chris's territory to see his son. This was the safest place for Chris to go to get away from it all and Leo didn't want him to think that his dad would come and interrupt him every time he came now that he knew where he was.  
  
Leo was there on more pressing matters.  
  
Chris was surprised to see his dad.  
  
It wasn't that his dad wasn't there a lot.  
  
It was just that in the last month since his father had received his Elder title back he'd been M.I.A.  
  
Sure, he came back to visit once in awhile. Usually late at night, when everything seemed to be quiet around the world. He'd come by to see Chris quite a few times to make sure he had everything he needed for his graduation and to see if he wanted anything exceptionally great that was mystical as a gift.  
  
Chris loved his dad.  
  
But he wanted him around more, and when he was around more he wanted him not to be looking for some kind of gift to buy him off with for not being there the other half of the time. Chris just wanted his father to stop compensating his lack of time with gifts and be a father.  
  
Of course, he had to admit he did see his father more then Wyatt ever did. Wyatt was always busy or gone whenever their father was around. If anyone were to complain about lack of time with their father it would be Wyatt.  
  
Chris just wanted his dad to be there for his mom. She had had a hard enough time as it was trying to be the strong one for her family let alone vanquishing every demon that popped up at their house everyday and then managing the nightclub. She deserved better then an occasional visit from her husband.  
  
His father still had a family on earth to care about and be with. The other Elder's didn't, but he did. Chris just wished he'd act like it more.  
  
Of course, just by seeing his father shimmer in at that moment made him more annoyed then he had been before. Of all times for his father to come, it had to be now.  
  
He was probably there to tell Chris how his mother had made the right decision and how he should go back there and help her out. But he wouldn't. He was still too angry at her right now to care.  
  
"Chris, what's wrong?" Leo asked, appearing in front of his son.  
  
"Dad, come on. I want to be alone. That's why I came here." Chris responded, harshly.  
  
"Well, I would have left you alone like you wanted if you hadn't started a few sudden hurricanes." Leo told him. Then, he pointed out at the water in a reply to Chris's confused look. A few miles away a few small hurricanes had started to form over the waters surface.  
  
"Oh, sorry." Chris said, focusing his energy on the hurricanes as he stopped them in their tracks. Once he was done his father gave him a quick look over of him, and then he patted a part of the beam suggestively so that Chris would sit by him. Chris could just feel his father's need to have a heart to heart talk taking over for the situation.  
  
The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was talk with his father, the all knowing Elder, about why he was angry.  
  
"Now, sit down. I came here to tell you about the girl who attacked Wyatt." Leo told him.  
  
"Oh, great. Like I haven't already heard this once today. Will you all just give it a rest. She's evil . Nothing more to say about it. I say we just vanquish her and get on with our lives." Chris told his father.  
  
"Looks can be deceiving, Chris. As well as this whole situation with her." Leo informed his son.  
  
"Yeah, well this girl seems to be deceiving everyone but me." Chris replied, his green eyes slitting.  
  
"Look, Chris. I came to tell you this before your mother and before your aunts. I think you need to know this just as well if not more then they do. You need to know the truth so that you can help them."  
  
"Yeah, right. Help them? They won't even listen to me!" Chris cried, throwing his hands up in the air.  
  
"That's because you aren't looking at the whole situation. Maybe, if you did instead of taking a temper tantrum then they would." Leo responded.  
  
"I am not taking a temper tantrum." Chris said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning on his father.  
  
"The girl that attacked Wyatt.. She's good, Chris. The Elder's have been trying to keep her a secret to the world for awhile now because of how powerful she is. How powerful she will become one day when she meets her full potential." Leo told his son almost excitedly.  
  
"Yeah, she's powerful alright."  
  
Powerful enough to kill all of them if she got the chance, Chris finished the statement silently in his mind.  
  
"They even foresee her helping out your mother and aunts for years to come." Leo told him.  
  
"Yeah, well tell the Elders that their long distance carrier is wrong." Chris told him getting up and walking to the edge of the beam and looking down at the crashing blue waves of the ocean below him.  
  
"Chris, what happened today was only the beginning of her powers," Leo insisted, trying to get through to his son how important this all was.  
  
"Great. That's just wonderful. Do you know what mom and them are doing right now?" Chris asked.  
  
"No, what?"  
  
"They're helping her! They are helping her wake up and then they're going to talk to her like rational adults, and then they are probably going to let her go free. They're just going to act like nothing happened, dad. Like she didn't try to kill Wyatt and everyone else. They are going to let her go free so she can do whatever damage she has left to do to Wyatt. So sorry, dad. But contrary to popular opinion, I think this sucks." Chris said, kicking some dirt off of the beam.  
  
"It doesn't seem like it to you now, but they are doing the right thing here, Chris." Leo responded following his son to the edge of the beam.  
  
"Yeah, then why does it seem like suicide mission? Huh?" Chris asked, quietly.  
  
"Chris," Leo started to try to comfort his son.  
  
But he was instantly interrupted.  
  
Someone had started calling for him. A very familiar voice who sounded so very tired at the moment. Worry came over Leo as he thought of what his son had just said. Hopefully, his wife and her sisters weren't in danger.  
  
Hopefully, the baby was okay.  
  
"Now, what? Are they calling you again?" Chris asked annoyed as he looked up at the dark black sky. Why did the Elders have to influence everything they did? Why did they have to interrupt everything else?  
  
"No, it's your mom," Leo replied, softly.  
  
"Mom?" Chris asked, panic rising in his belly.  
  
"She needs me." Leo said and quickly orbed away from the Golden Gate Bridge.  
  
Chris, not caring of the consequences, instantly orbed after him. If they needed help back at the Manor he was going to provide it. Then, once they had vanquished the girl, he would rub it in their faces that he had been right about her all along. 


	21. Call Me Righteous

Leo orbed quickly into the attic.  
  
He was already ready for anything to suddenly attack as he orbed in behind the stand the Book of Shadows rested on. There he looked quickly around the room to find...  
  
Nothing really happening. He relaxed slowly as his gaze fell over Piper sitting on the old white bed in the attic.  
  
He had to admit she looked even more beautiful then ever at that moment. She was looking down at the Book of Shadows resting on her lap. Her long dark brown hair was falling down her shoulders and her back silky and her doe brown eyes were softly looking up to see him. Her all familiar sweet smile fell over her lips as she saw him appear in the attic.  
  
Her eyes even sparkled as he came quickly over to her and kissed her lightly on the lips. He missed her kisses. It'd been awhile since he'd been able to relax enough to be able to enjoy them.  
  
Their kiss was cut off as Chris orbed into the attic a moment behind him. Leo had to smile at his son's entrance. Now, everyone was home where they belonged. He only wished that Chris hadn't been so headstrong to leave Piper and the sisters alone in the first place.  
  
Leo looked down at his son lying on the bed beside Piper. She followed his gaze and gave him a reassuring smile as she patted his hand. Wyatt was still unconscious, but something was different about him this time. Leo hoped that it wasn't his wishful thinking that was giving him the reaction that Wyatt was better then before.  
  
Victoria?  
  
Leo looked around the attic to see where she was. He'd expected them to still be all up in the attic for when he had come to find out the information he had found out from the other Elders, but he saw that they weren't. Phoebe, Paige, and Victoria had disappeared.  
  
Leo hoped that was a good thing.  
  
"What is it? What's wrong? Is it the baby? Is it Wyatt?" Leo asked, still a little worried as he stood beside his wife and lightly touched her belly.  
  
"Mom, are you okay?" Chris asked at the same moment.  
  
He noticed that everyone was gone. He also noticed that Victoria wasn't there. He hoped they'd seen reason and vanquished her. But, of course, he doubted.  
  
Piper laughed at both of them, "I'm fine. The baby's fine. It's nice to see you've finally come around, Chris.  
  
"Why'd you call?" Leo asked, sitting on the bed beside his wife and checking his son.  
  
"Well, I was wondering if you found out anything about her." Piper said. Looking at her husband with a rare smile and waiting for him to confirm her suspicions or not so she would finally know where everything stood.  
  
"I sure did. I found out she's going to be a big help to you guys once this is all over. That is if you haven't vanquished her." He said looking around the empty attic for clues.  
  
"Oh, Leo. Don't worry. She'd be dead by now if we had went with what Wyatt and Chris wanted. Lucky for her, we didn't. She's fine. Actually, right now she's getting cleaned up." Piper said, informing Leo.  
  
He took a breath of relief. But then he realized something she'd said. Wyatt? When had he had the chance to tell them anything?  
  
"Wyatt?" Leo asked.  
  
"Oh, yes. He's fine now."  
  
"Uh, mom. I don't know if you noticed this yet, but he hasn't moved from the bed. He looks the same as he did as when I left." Chris said.  
  
"Uh, Chris. You missed a lot when you left," she told him flipping her dark hair out of her a face. "So she's good? She's on our side?"  
  
"Beyond good. She's praised up there." Leo told Piper.  
  
"Wow, I never knew the Elders praised murderers." Chris replied, bitterly.  
  
"Chris!" Piper and Leo both yelled at him  
  
"Hey, it's just what I believe." he said raising his hands up in self defense.  
  
"Well then be quiet and sit down, young man." Piper ordered, in anger. She really wanted to tell him a thing or two, but now wasn't the time.  
  
"Piper," Leo reprimanded, softly.  
  
"Now, don't you go and tell me how to be a mom, Leo. Chris, I do love you and I know where you are coming from here. I know you're worried about your brother and you have every reason to be. But you left, Chris. You quit. You can't come in here and say whatever you want to say because you don't know about anything that happened while you were gone. So, you don't have the right to say anything about what we are doing." Piper told him.  
  
"How is Wyatt?" Leo asked, trying to cover the heavy silence that came.  
  
"He's better. Victoria healed him a little while ago and now he's checking up on his last lifetime. I thought he could pick up a few clues on how to stop the curse," Piper told her husband.  
  
"Good idea," Leo nodded. 


	22. Come What May

It had took awhile but Phoebe and Paige had conquered the closet demons in order to find clothes that would fit Victoria that she agreed to wear. After ransacking every closet in the house, Paige and Phoebe had found some old dark blue jeans that were slightly torn around the knees along with red v-neck top that would fit her.  
  
Tired, and a bit defeated after the pursuit of clothes, they pushed her into Piper's bathroom. She went willing since she was sick of Paige complaining about the smoky smell that followed Victoria everywhere. After calling her "the human smoke bomb" a few million times, Victoria had readily gone into the bathroom just to get away from Paige's sensitive nose and sarcastic tongue.  
  
From there on, Paige and Phoebe had stayed in Piper's room to wait for Victoria to get out of the bathroom. They still half expected she would try to find a way out, but she hadn't so far. Now, that she was in the shower and they heard the heavy spray of water coming down they felt they could take a breather.  
  
Paige picked up the holey shirt that Victoria had left in the bedroom. It had once been a clean bright white color. It had been a pretty cute shirt in its day, but now it was dead.  
  
Paige fingered the hole in the middle of the shirt that spread to the bottom of the seam of the shirt. Wyatt had really gotten Victoria good with that energy ball. It was a surprise she had survived it.  
  
"God, I can't believe she lived through that," Phoebe said, sitting on Piper's bed as she watched Paige look through the hole in the shirt.  
  
"Yeah, she's like indestructible." Paige agreed, with a slight chill.  
  
"Well, at least until midnight." Phoebe said, frowning slightly. Even now, she could hardly believe the turn of events that had just happened.  
  
"Phoebe, your past life came back, didn't it?" Paige asked slowly.  
  
"Not only that but my old hottie evil boyfriend came with it." Phoebe told her, lying on her stomach on the bed and flinging her legs back in forth like a teenager at a slumber party.  
  
"You were evil, right?" Paige asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I had such a kick ass power too." Phoebe said as her eyes drifted away as she remembered the past. If only she'd been able to keep the power to throw fire balls at people. Instead, she got some of the most defective powers of the bunch.  
  
"What about Piper? You all were together." Paige said, breaking through Phoebe's thoughts.  
  
"Yeah, I don't really know. I think she's always been good." Phoebe responded, rolling her eyes annoyed.  
  
"Goody two shoes," Paige harped, also annoyed.  
  
"Yeah, but you and I, we were evil in ours." Phoebe told her.  
  
"Don't remind me," Paige said.  
  
Paige had been pretty new to the world of witchcraft when her past life had come after her. Her favorite fairy tale of a wicked witch who took a knight for her own and bore an evil heir to the kingdom had actually ended up being her in her own past life. She'd been pretty surprised at how evil let alone how powerful she'd been in her past life.  
  
Too bad she had to bind her powers in her past life.  
  
"How are we going to reverse a curse without changing the past?" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't know sweetie," Phoebe said.  
  
"Cause. Well at first she was evil and I really wanted to vanquish her sorry butt but now..." Paige said, letting her thought wander off.  
  
"Yeah, she's good and you can feel that too." Phoebe nodded.  
  
"I can't believe Wyatt was evil in his last life. I just never saw him as the type to curse someone for not liking him," Paige said, throwing the ruined shirt in a nearby waste basket.  
  
She really couldn't see Wyatt evil.  
  
She was still used to the little boy that she had seen grow up into a slightly mature adult. She couldn't believe he was ever evil. Especially, when as a baby in Piper's stomach he had stopped her from blowing up a demon by changing her powers into blowing up a strange assortment of pretty flowers to fall around the demon's head.  
  
"Well, Paige. Evil either consumes and perverts everything in its path or else it destroys it." Phoebe told her sadly. Phoebe knew too well what evil could do to someone let alone what it could do to people that she loved.  
  
"You don't think Wyatt will go evil in this life, do you?" Paige asked, bringing up an age old subject. A subject had been pretty much closed. Until now, of course. Now, that they knew that in Wyatt's past life he had been evil.  
  
"I hope not. Chris came back to change that, remember?" Phoebe reminded.  
  
"Yeah, still it's a scary thought. He's so powerful and all." Paige said.  
  
"Yeah, but so is Victoria." Phoebe reminded Paige.  
  
"She kind of scares me in the power department." Paige admitted, as she looked suspiciously at the bathroom door.  
  
"Me, too. I'll tell you this though. I really wouldn't want to be the one to piss that girl off." Phoebe told Paige.  
  
"Me either." Paige agreed not even willing to think of the consequences 


	23. Death Whispered A Lullaby

NoAlias: Thanks for getting my ass back in gear. I agree with you I did get a little lazy with a few of those chapters. I was so busy trying to rush into the past life action that I should've known better. As always, stay true to your critic self in your reviews because they help me a lot.  
  
Calen: I would like you to know I still have a few tricks up my sleeve with Victoria. Of course, you will just have to keep reading to figure out what they are. Hopefully, once the story has concluded you will like how it all ends.  
  
Willows2: I really did have a lot of fun with chapter 18. It was the first time I got to wake up Wyatt and not have him be comatose to whole the situation. Plus, I loved, loved, loved having all the characters interact with one another with each of their personalities diversities. Oh, and it's totally understandable that it took you awhile to get into the story. I mean really, it took this many chapters to get everyone in "agreement" over the whole Victoria situation let alone interact with one another like they do on the show.  
  
Shortie: Thankies for the reviews. I hope you love it. I'm so happy to hear you're addicted to it. Tis a great ego booster. See you at work.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------  
  
The smell of loblolly pine trees invaded Andrew's senses as he arrived at the tall red brick house. It was her house. Valerie's. The girl he was supposed to be withs home.  
  
He'd known that they were supposed to be together since the moment that they'd met.  
  
It had been a cold day in late October. She'd stood out of the crowd. Everyone had went to the funeral wearing black, but she'd worn a dark red instead. He'd seen her a mile away while he'd been walking through the cemetery.  
  
He liked the cemetery. It was the only place that he could get his own peace of mind in. He'd been there that day walking around and visiting his mother's grave.  
  
Most people, he knew, would come to their parent's grave to mourn. They would come to pay homage and remember all the happy times they had had with the deceased. Most people would leave small trinkets on the grave to signify the person's birthday or so that the person would have something of theirs with them forever.  
  
Andrew had never understood why people would be so naive to believe that the deceased cared that they were doing that, and he never understood why they thought that the deceased could still hear them.  
  
They were dead. Goners. They were buried and off in their next lifetime getting into a new life while the people that were still here in this life weren't getting on with their own lives. Instead, the people in this life were still hanging onto the dearly departed.  
  
Mortals, he cursed in annoyment.  
  
When would they ever learn that death was not the end of everything? It was the beginning of another life. Instead of feeling sad that their friend, family, or lover died they should be happy that they could live again.  
  
Stupid mortals, he cursed again as he walked by one that was whispering to a marble gravestone in the shape of a baby angel.  
  
Then, as if to make his mood even worse, a funeral procession had interrupted his quiet time there. He'd watched them make their way to the recently departed's grave silently leaning against one of the trees.  
  
Still, it had always interested him how other's dealt with death. Especially, how they dealt with the fact that once the body of their loved ones was buried in the cold, hard ground they would never get that person back. They would never get another moment with that person.  
  
The gray sky had deformed all of the colors that gave the cemetery life. In its wake, the mourners following the coffin looked like living corpses following their leader.  
  
She'd been the last to follow the crowd to the grave.  
  
He'd seen her mother clearly belittling her for her choice of funeral garb by her harsh hand movements. The girl had looked away the whole time her mother had belittled her. The funeral was dragging on her energy. The girl's mothers bickering wasn't helping matters either.  
  
She'd been so pale. As he'd watched her, he'd remembered the fairy tale of Snow White that his mother had used to tell him as a young, ignorant child.  
  
The girl was just as pale as the driven snow, her golden blond hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and her blue-violet eyes had had a severe look to them. If anything she looked as if she had just been formed by the words in a fairy tale being brought to life. The long dark red dress that she'd worn to the funeral covered her from head to foot.  
  
She'd looked like she had been dipped in blood.  
  
She'd stood out like a sore thumb.  
  
She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever saw in his life.  
  
He didn't care about the consequences his actions would have on her. He called to her with his mind. He called her to him.  
  
She'd shrugged off his first attempt, he remembered smiling to himself as he watched her lonely house and awaited her return home.  
  
She hadn't succeeded resisting his second attempt. It had almost knocked her off her feet with the power he'd used to get her to come to him.  
  
Her mother had yelled at her as she'd wobbled on her feet on crashed into her. Finally, her mother told her to go back to the car and wait for them.  
  
She'd retreated, but not too far.  
  
When she'd saw him she'd stopped.  
  
Maybe, she had been afraid of him at the time. Maybe, she knew what the future held. Or maybe, his power had affected her more then he had planned on. But she'd wobbled again on her feet and grabbed onto a nearby tree for support.  
  
He'd came to her quickly. Entering her world, and never willing to leave it.  
  
"Are you alright, Miss?" he'd asked.  
  
He didn't need her to answer. He already knew. He could see into her mind. She was still dizzy and fatigued by both his power controlling her mind as well as from her grief for the dead one in the coffin. Her younger brother, he realized. He'd died from being hit by a car.  
  
Her name was Valerie Woods. She had a mother and father who resisted loving her and a little sister who ran all over town that her parents spoiled.  
  
She lived on Sanderon Street and had woods in her backyard where she'd used to play and pretend she was an Amazon in. That was before she'd grown up. Now, she cared for her elderly grandmother because no one else in her family would.  
  
He had found all of that out instantly when he'd taken her arm to assist her to the car. That and the fact that she was just as powerful as himself. And that whenever they interacted with each other their magic produced an instant reaction in the world around them.  
  
He'd realized the last when he'd taken her arm to assist her to the car and the dying tree that she'd still been touching bloomed. 


	24. The Killer In Me Is The Killer In You

In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
==================================================  
  
Andrew was startled out of his perfect memory of meeting her by someone trying to move stealthily through the woods. A sharp crack of a twig a few feet away alerted him to where his intruder was coming from. Valerie? He wondered turning to see who it was. But it was still too dark to see.  
  
Before, when he'd first met her he'd been perfectly able to see into her mind and relive her memories, but through the time that they'd known each other she'd stopped his intrusions by building a wall against him.  
  
She'd shielded her mind from him as well as herself.  
  
He hated knowing that she feared him enough to do that.  
  
He kicked himself everyday for not pacing his actions more slowly. For doing what he did the way he had did it. Maybe, if he had done something different she would still be with him. They would be together instead of apart from each other in the pit of hells loneliness.  
  
He'd just jumped right into the frying pan with her when they'd met. He'd made it clear the second he'd spoken to her that he only had eyes for her. He'd also made it common knowledge that they were both a lot alike.  
  
They both were powerful and dangerous.  
  
Of course, at first she'd embraced him and wanted to know everything she could about him and magic. She'd been like a curious child willing to be taught and happy to have someone to confide in for once in her life about her powers.  
  
She'd given him the time of day because he'd been the first person that she'd ever met that was like her. He'd showed her that she wasn't the devil incarnate like her mother had told her she was because of her powers.  
  
He'd comforted her by being like her.  
  
She'd been drawn to him, too. By just being together they felt like magnets being pulled into each other over and over again until they couldn't stand being without the other. Soon after they had met they couldn't resist being away from one another for long periods of time.  
  
In the beginning, she'd come willingly to him. She'd found him in the cemetery time after time. Always, they would meet in the cemetery. It was the only place she could be where her parents wouldn't follow and where they wouldn't suspect her motives for being there.  
  
She had been so curious of his freedom with his powers to the point that she became the same way. He'd slowly taught her everything he knew about magic while she had taught him what it was to be loved.  
  
Every moment with her he lived like it was his last. It hadn't surprised him much when they'd become lovers within weeks of knowing each other.  
  
They completed one another. She was the light and he was the darkness. It was as simple and as complicated as that.  
  
He'd adored her.  
  
And then, he'd made that mistake that had costed him his lifetime with her.  
  
It had happened one spring night that she'd been able to sneak away from her house. He'd wanted to let her live a little and show her a good time. So, they'd went to a nearby dance hall where they could dance the night away. When they had came out of the dance hall, they'd been as drunk off the wine as well as each other.  
  
She'd smiled so sweetly at him as they'd walked along the lonely street. It had been the last time she's smiled at him that way.  
  
He had twirled her in and out of the street lamps light as they walked along the cracked gray sidewalk in the night. Her red flapper dress flaring out in the wind as they danced around the town giddily.  
  
Her red shoes clasped around her wrist that he held lightly as the other hand he used to twirl her around with. That night she'd worn her hair down. It had laid crimped down her back in golden blond waves until he'd twirled her and then it had went flying around with her.  
  
It had been the last time they had been happy together.  
  
He stopped twirling her and brought her against him. She giggled and tilted her head back to look into his hungry eyes.  
  
"What now, nymphet?" he asked, softly touching her hair.  
  
Nymphet, the nickname he'd given her suited her well. His nymphet.  
  
She looked just as beautiful as any water nymph that he'd ever seen. He'd even bet that she'd give the nymphs a run for their money. The name suited her ethereal beauty as well as the way she acted. She was just like a mischievous child with the common sense and reasoning of an angel and that made her in his eyes a nymphet.  
  
"Mmm... I don't know, Andrew. Surely, you have something in mind." she answered, she raised herself up on her tippy toes and gave him a brief kiss on the side of his mouth.  
  
"You tease," he said, quickly tickling her before she could get away. As she giggled and tried to fight him off he picked her up into his strong arms. In the process, she dropped her red shoes.  
  
"Andrew, my shoes." she told him and pointed down at them on the sidewalk.  
  
"Ah, forget them. I'll buy you a new pair tomorrow," he answered, as he started walking away from them.  
  
"Andrew, come on."  
  
He let out a breath of exasperation then he let her down on the ground lightly. He walked back to where her shoes were and picked them up. Women, and their shoes. He'd never understand.  
  
"Okay, happy?" he asked.  
  
He looked up as he wagged her precious high heels in his fingertips. He saw her bare feet sliding back a little for some reason. Then, he saw the another pair of feet behind hers in scuffed black shoes.  
  
His gaze quickly focused on her.  
  
She was scared and surprised. Her attacker had came out of no where and had done so silently. Her attacker now had one arm firmly wrapped over her stomach to keep her from moving and the other holding a gleaming knife to her throat in case she thought his strength to hold her back wasn't enough.  
  
Valerie!  
  
He wanted to tell her to use her powers against the man, but she wouldn't. She hadn't come far enough yet to kill someone with her powers. She would never do it. She valued human life more that he did.  
  
"I'm going to give you one chance to step away from the lady," Andrew warned.  
  
His fire ball formed inside the palm of his hand that he had placed behind his back. He wasn't as good as Valerie.  
  
He would kill if he had the chance to. He always had and he always would. The power of life and death over someone let alone the victory fueled him to kill.  
  
He'd hoped that one day Victoria would enjoy the feeling as much as he had. He had a slight feeling what he was about to do wasn't the best way go about saving her, but he shook it off. She wouldn't like what he was going to do. But he wouldn't change. He would never change. Not even for her.  
  
He took a quick glance around the street. All there was were dark buildings looming in the shadows. It was like a ghost town. No one would witness what he was going to do. No one but the three of them which soon would be reduced to two.  
  
"Give me all your money, mister. Or I'll slit her throat!" the thief warned.  
  
"Do you know who you are dealing with?" Andrew asked, laughing as he brought the fire ball into clear view of the thief.  
  
The thief's smoky gray eyes widened at what he saw but he didn't back down. He didn't let go of Valerie like Andrew half expected him to. Instead, he pulled her body tighter to his filthy, stinking flesh.  
  
"You won't risk hurting her. Now give me your money!" the thief cried, impatiently. "Or I'll do a little carving." he warned touching the knife to her throat and letting it make a small cut.  
  
How dare he! Who did he think he was? Even from a few feet away, Andrew knew that he was only a mere mortal. He had no strength or powers to defend himself besides the knife to Valerie's throat.  
  
How dare he harm her.  
  
Andrew didn't answer the thief or give him his money. Instead, he waved his hand in a motioning towards his side and said, "Valerie."  
  
She instantly appeared beside him, A bit shocked and a bit out of breath. She looked over at him in surprise and then she looked at the shocked thief.  
  
Then, Andrew touched her throat where a small line to f blood trickled down it. Andrew felt the warm blood on his fingertips and it only fueled his anger more.  
  
He touched her pale cheek. Calming her instantly, he knew that all she could see was him now. The same effect all too familiarly came over him as it always did whenever they were together. He still knew that the thief was close by though.  
  
He could sense the thief's surprise and anger at being had. He also could feel the slight fear radiating from the thief's body since he didn't understand what had just happened.  
  
Andrew didn't care to pay him any attention. Instead, he gave Valerie a soft passionate kiss that started other small kisses as she clung onto him. He was, of course, her hero for the moment.  
  
As she did, the thief started to run.  
  
Oh, no you don't, Andrew thought.  
  
He threw out his hand that was still holding the fireball like a baseball pitcher ready to strike the other team out. The fireball hit the thief head on. Instantly, he was engorged in flames. Almost as instantly, the world came back to Valerie as the thief dropped to the ground screaming.  
  
"Oh, my god," she whispered starting to move towards the thief as if she could help him.  
  
Why she cared, Andrew would never understand.  
  
He stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her right in her tracks as she watched in horror as the thief's screams subsided and all that was left of his wretched existence was a pile of gray dust. Which started to blow away as the winds picked up around them bringing the storm.  
  
He knew it was her storm as he took her shoulders in his hands and looked down at her violet-blue eyes.  
  
"Andrew, why?" she whispered.  
  
"Because I could," he answered.  
  
She didn't take his answer lightly, "Don't you have any remorse?"  
  
"For a common thief that terrorizes defenseless women in the middle of the night? Hardly!"  
  
"You didn't have to kill him," she responded.  
  
"What then could I have done?" he asked, waiting for her to think up a brilliant answer.  
  
"I don't know. Give him money? Fight him the way humans do?" she sputtered in shock, ripping herself from his grip.  
  
Uh oh, honeymoon's over, he thought.  
  
"While you lay bleeding to death in the street? I think not! "  
  
"Andrew, he was human. "  
  
"Ah, there you go on that humanity kick." he said, bitterly.  
  
"Humanity kick? You're human, Andrew. I don't know if you realize this yet but you bleed, you get older each year like the rest of us, and you will eventually die!" she cried.  
  
"Never!" he responded, vehemently. He would never be weak enough to die. Not if he could help it.  
  
"You're not Peter Pan, Andrew. Neverland doesn't exit. You will die one day. Whether you like it or not. Not even your blasted powers can save you from the inevitable!"  
  
"I will find away," he yelled at her.  
  
Lightning from the storm struck the lamp post in his fury causing the lamppost to slowly started to crack in half from its perch and fall towards the ground. Inevitably, going straight towards Valerie as he watched.  
  
He didn't think. He just reacted. He rushed at her and threw both of them out of its path.  
  
She lay underneath him. Her eyes filled with fury. Forgiveness was no where inside of them as he looked down a the girl he loved. He had almost lost her again to death. He wouldn't let that happen.  
  
"He was asking for it, Valerie. If I hadn't killed him someone else would have." he said, trying to win her back.  
  
"Better if not by your hand," she responded, pushing him off of her and standing as he laid on the ground still.  
  
"Valerie," he whispered.  
  
"Don't come around me. I don't want to see you anymore, Andrew. Just leave me alone." she said.  
  
Then, she'd disappeared.  
  
She'd vanished from his side; from his life. Leaving him there alone on the vacant street where only moments before they had been kissing.  
  
He'd been furious then.  
  
He'd used his demonic powers to break windows to the buildings around him and then he created fires in the others he hadn't yet destroyed. If she didn't want to be with him over something so small and stupidly insignificant then she didn't have to be.  
  
Let her be alone. See what good that did her. He thought bitterly as he stood in the destruction he'd caused.  
  
He'd decided then at that moment that if he couldn't be with her then everyone else would pay for it.  
  
Everyone would pay, he thought smiling as he saw her younger sister appear in the moonlight shredding through the trees.  
  
Everyone. 


	25. Shattered

In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
==================================================  
  
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS A BIT RATED R.  
  
Impatiently, he waited for Rebecca to come within his reach. Then, he took her hand as quickly as a striking snake. She turned to him in surprise as a gasp filtered out of her lips. He clapped his other hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.  
  
Then, with the hand that held her wrist he quickly snapped her body into action to pull her close to him where he met her scared eyes directly. All he needed was to keep her eyes held with his.  
  
He kept her dull brown eyes staring into his as he started to throw his power into her mind. It's okay, it's okay, he slowly sent her the thought. Instantly, she eased in his grip. I have something I need you to do for me. He told her silently and within instants she was his. She nodded her head in agreement and then he let her go.  
  
"Rebecca, you want to die tonight."  
  
"What? Andrew, you are scaring me." Rebecca answered, aloud slightly fighting his powers for the moment.  
  
"No, shhh. No protests. You will to do what I say." he said, whispering as he held his fingertips to her lips to silence her. She did instantly. Then, she gave his fingers a light kiss. The slut! He instantly wanted to hit her, but he didn't. Soon, she'd get what she deserved, the harlot.  
  
Her eyes that had moments ago shone with fear were now spiked into an eerie calm from the trance he'd placed her in. Her dark brown eyes glistened in the moonlight as she shared a small smile with him. She was so weak. It was a wonder someone hadn't already taken advantage of her before him.  
  
Using the grip he quickly established over her shoulders, he turned her towards the red brick house she lived in with Valerie. In the moonlight, it almost looked like a haunted house long gone and since abandoned by anyone who had ever lived in it. He smiled pulling Rebecca in for a bear hug.  
  
It soon would have that fate.  
  
The house wasn't as vacant as it had been before.  
  
He now felt Valerie's presence inside. She must have just come home from her grandmother's, he thought. How sweet. He almost felt like the hungry wolf in Little Red Riding Hood as he waited in the woods with his prey. Too bad he didn't know where her little old granny was. If he did she would have been his first victim of love.  
  
He could feel her mother was there somewhere among the dark rooms also. Valerie's father wasn't home yet, but soon he would be. He would be the icing on the cake that night.  
  
Andrew smiled as he felt his luck would soon change for the better. Soon the only person in the world that was there for Valerie would be him. She would have to be with him then.  
  
"Oh, Rebecca, don't you love happy endings?" he asked, "Of course, you won't be witnessing any anytime soon. Don't worry about that though. I'm letting you off easy compared to your parents."  
  
"Happy endings?" she drawled out, barely even able to say the words together in unison.  
  
"Yes, my dear. Valerie and my happy ending." he told her. "Now, be quiet. We don't want to overwork that pretty old head of yours, now do we?" at her blank fish trapped in a bowl stare he added. "Don't answer that."  
  
He looked back at the house as a light came on in the upstairs back window. When he looked up he saw Valerie surface behind the window panes glass. Her beautiful blond hair was down tonight in strands of straight golden blond and she wore a plain white strapless dress. Even from the beginning of the woods, he could still see the wavering violet-blue color of her eyes. Never before had he seen another with the same color eyes. They made her look like an angel.  
  
He'd been waiting too long to see her. He'd waited too long to be reunited. So as soon as he saw her, he created a small fireball inside the palm of his hand. He flicked the fireball in and out of existence on his palm to get her attention in the darkness.  
  
She saw the light instantly. It had used to be his call to her when he'd come to visit her at night. When she hadn't been afraid of him or angry at him for killing others. It had been their little secret.  
  
He could see her squint and lean forward a little on the window. Perhaps, she thought she was imagining it. He knew she must have felt as if she were dreaming as she looked out onto the scene. He stayed on the ground and made a larger fireball that lit the scene around him.  
  
It showed her that he had someone that belonged to her. Her very sister, his bait.  
  
As soon as she saw them together, she started banging on the window. She was trying so hard to get her sisters attention. She was trying so hard to get her sister to get away from him, but what she didn't know was that he already had complete control over her younger sister.  
  
He took Rebecca's elbow in his hand as he started towards the house. Above them, Valerie had disappeared from the window. She was on her way down to them. Of course, it wasn't his plan to be there when she came to the spot in the woods that she'd seen them. It was his plan to get in the house at the exact time she left it so he had the opportunity to surprise her.  
  
"Off we go, my dear." he told Rebecca as he hurried her towards the house.  
  
He pushed Rebecca forward towards the house where he then went with her to the front entrance just as Valerie existed the back entrance. He smiled as he entered the darkened hallway with Rebecca.  
  
So far, so good.  
  
Inside, he took off his black top hat since it was only custom to. Then, he placed it on the hat rack beside the door with a smile. He glanced around the house not seeing Valerie's mother anywhere and then he saw the perfect spot for Rebecca to kill herself.  
  
The staircase. He had only been on it once before but he remembered how the beam at the top was low enough for a rope to be hanged and high enough for a short girl like Rebecca to be able to successfully hang herself.  
  
Andrew quietly went up the stairs where at the top he found the low beam that he planned on hanging a rope easily from. He quickly tested it with his own weight by hanging off of it with one arm. For a moment, he almost felt like an ape. Then, he let himself gracefully drop back onto the top step. There he smiled, brushed his black suit down, and picked his lucky silver walking cane back up.  
  
This was almost too easy.  
  
"Rope," he said quietly. He wasn't willing for Valerie's mother to come out of no where and break the trance that Rebecca was under. The rope instantly appeared in his hand as he smiled down on it. Then he quickly, threw it up over the wooden beam and made the noose. "Perfect."  
  
He galloped down the stairs speedily in his excitement to Rebecca's side to lead her up the stairs to her death. He went directly behind her and settled his hands on her shoulders tightly steering her body to the top of the creaking stairs. He settled her right underneath the rope and then pulled it down slightly to wrap it around her throat. It fit snuggly around her throat as he licked his cold lips.  
  
"Perfect fit." he told her as he adjusted it a little around her pale white throat.  
  
Now, all Rebecca had to do was take one step forward and she would be dead. One of the three he planned on killing that night would be dead. He sighed happily. This was almost like child's play.  
  
He heard Valerie coming back into the house. It was almost blissful to be this close to her again that he could feel a slight impression of her feelings. She was scared. She didn't know what to expect and her heart was beating a mile a minute.  
  
He nodded his head at Rebecca. Who instantly took the necessary last step to her death. As he watched, her small body started swinging back in forth in front of him like a pendulum. He laughed a bitter laugh and gave her a quick swing to speed up the process.  
  
Rebecca made no noise of regret or pain. She just swung back in forth still in the trance as her oxygen slowly was being choked out of her. Instead, of making a noise she smiled at him as her noose strangled her to death.  
  
He shook his head at his beautiful masterpiece of death and power then he smiled at her as he tipped an imaginary hat to her.  
  
Then, he slowly started down the stairs. He knew that Valerie wouldn't be able to see Rebecca from downstairs . She could only hear the slight breeze and creak as Rebecca's body swung. He knew if he took his time going down the staircase she would only fear him and the worst for her little sister.  
  
She wouldn't try to go up the stairs he was blocking. She wouldn't want to see what he had done to her poor younger sister. She wouldn't be able to get past him either. Not unless he wanted her to see his handiwork. By the time it would take for her to get past him her precious sister would be dead.  
  
He skipped down the last few steps singing the last dance tune that they'd danced to together at the dance club .  
  
He was surprised when out of the darkness she came slamming into him as she tried to push him out of her way. She pounded his chest with her hands but he quickly took them captive. He took her small hands and kissed both of them congenially.  
  
"No, Andrew. Let me go," she whimpered.  
  
He smiled. Even now, knowing that he was there up to no good she still could barely resist the attraction they both had towards each other. He opened her fists and kissed the palms of her hands lightly as he let his kisses trail up to her wrists.  
  
"But I love you." he responded, looking down into her dark violet eyes.  
  
"No." she whispered, weakly.  
  
"I do. You know I won't stop till you admit you feel the same way. That's why I am here. Come with me now and I won't harm anyone else." he said, softly. "I can feel your feelings, my nymphet. Your heart right now is beating faster then before. You're excited to see me, aren't you?" he asked enfolding her mouth with his as he pressed her up against the banister.  
  
"Kiss me back," he commanded, trying to use his powers on her too.  
  
But they didn't work. They barely ever worked on her anymore. She didn't kiss him back. Instead, she turned her head to the side as she tried to breathe.  
  
He laughed as he rolled his hands through her golden hair," So powerful. No wonder we're meant to be together." She struggled in his grip but he kept her pressed to the wall. "Stop it! Stop this game. Stop being so damned good and be with me, Valerie."  
  
"Never."  
  
"Oh, stop this madness. You weren't meant to be good. You were meant for evil just as I was. I won't stop till I have you, you know that." he oathed, as she shook her head violently.  
  
"Just kill me." she spat out at him. "That's the only power you'll ever have over me."  
  
"What? Don't be ridiculous then I would never have you."  
  
"You will never have me. You lost your chance with me the moment you killed. Why not stop tormenting me with your so-called love and let me go?"  
  
"As you would say, never." he remarked, tipping her head up to look straight in his eyes.  
  
As soon as he'd distracted her gaze, he drew out a knife from his black overcoat and sharply cut her hand. Then his own and placed them roughly together as she breathed out in a hiss of pain. Their blood mixed together as he smiled. She was now his. Blood in, blood out.  
  
She struggled more against him as she realized what he had done but he held her tightly in his grasp and took her bleeding hand to his mouth and licked the blood trailing from the gash he'd made on her palm. "You taste so good."  
  
"It hurts." she said, her eyes fiercely glowering at him.  
  
"Love is meant to hurt."  
  
"You have it all wrong."  
  
"I love you. I don't." he answered, quickly twirling her out into the hallway. There she broke away from his hands grip and leaned against the wall as she held her bloody hand. The creaking of Rebecca's swinging corpse was the only thing that they both could hear in the silence.  
  
"Someone else has my heart now." she said, smiling in victory knowing that she had hit him hard with the truth.  
  
"You better hope that that's not true or you'll know how it feels to lose your true love, too." he said, making his way to her as she moved away from him.  
  
But, in the end, she wasn't quick enough. He slammed her against the wall," Who is it, Valerie?"  
  
"I'll never tell." she responded, leaning against the wall as she looked down her nose at him.  
  
"You think so?" he asked, his eyes burning in his insanity.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Not even to save your sister's life?" he asked.  
  
Valerie looked at him in surprise for a moment. It turned into horror as she heard the creaking of the beam above them. Now, she realized what the noise meant. She couldn't see it, but her sister was the one swinging upstairs. She pushed him out of her way and started up the stairs.  
  
He let her go. Right now, now that he knew she had gotten over him he felt his anger beating through him like fire. He wanted to hurt her. He wanted to hurt her like she had hurt him. He needed to hurt her. Then, they would be even. Then, he would force her to love him.  
  
He watched her as she ran up the stairs frantically to her sisters side. He then followed her to see her pale face as she saw Rebecca at the top shaded in the grim shadows of night and the strong silvery beams of moonlight as Rebecca swung back and forth dead. A small scream came from her all too familiar pink lips as she tried to pull her sister down from the beam. But she wasn't strong enough. Instead, she had sent her sister swinging faster and faster around her.  
  
The smile of pure joy that Rebecca had given Andrew before she'd died was still present of her mouth as she swung. She almost looked like an insane version of a jack in the box.  
  
Andrew couldn't help laughing at Valerie's terror and desperation as she frantically tried to get her sister down. He decided to end her struggles. With a wave of his hand, Rebecca came down hard onto the ground a few feet away from Valerie.  
  
He decided to give them a moment alone as he took the stairs two at a time. Downstairs, he found a familiar face peaking around the corner. After hearing all the bumps and creaks coming from upstairs, Valerie's mother had finally come out to play. In her hand, she had a frying pan to protect herself.  
  
Valerie's mother saw him and was taken a back for a moment. That was all the time he needed. He touched her cheek softly like a lover and looked down into her violet eyes. They were so like Valerie's. He'd never noticed that before.  
  
"You are sick of all the noise. You want to stop it." he said, as a knife appeared in his hand.  
  
He sternly gave it to her and nodded his head towards the stairs where Valerie was sobbing loudly. She looked at the gleaming knife and then smiled. He knew he was making her dreams come true by letting her kill the child she hated most. Sadly, he thought, she wouldn't get the chance to kill her.  
  
Valerie's mother was only the going to serve Valerie proof that he could do anything he wanted to anyone she loved. Her mother was also the proof that he had no remorse about it either. He hoped she'd get the clue that he wasn't going to let her go without a fight. If he did let her go, of course.  
  
Valerie's mother slowly made her way stealthy up the stairs so that she could get the element of surprise over Valerie. Andrew laughed as she went thinking that maybe he should keep her mother alive since she seemed to be such a good murderer. He wondered if her mother had ever murdered before.  
  
Then, he took a bite of an apple laying on a silver plate on the redwood table. A moment went by, in the silence then he looked up at the front door to see Valerie's father coming in from work.  
  
In the background, he heard Valerie crying out in alarm for help as she realized what her mother was up to. He heard her trying to talk her mother down. Her father, still oblivious to the situation, was tired and instantly annoyed thinking that it was just another argument between them.  
  
Andrew instantly used Valerie's fathers fatigue and anger against him. He went to the man laying a neighborly hand on his arm. "You are sick of all their bickering. If you kill your wife it will stop."  
  
Valerie's father nodded taking the axe that Andrew offered and started up the staircase after his wife.  
  
The whole time Andrew couldn't help laughing insanely about it to the point he couldn't breathe. He calmed himself as best he could and then went to stand in front of the fireplace. He didn't feel the need to watch the murders going on upstairs. He had seen too much death and fights in his life to know it was better to let everything be until it grew quiet. Then, there would be nothing to worry about or fight off once it was all over.  
  
The dancing flames in fireplace reminded him of is sanity that was slowly dwindling down as they leap around him. They slowly warm his body till he could barely stand it, but he still stood beside it in his own trance.  
  
Oh well. Their death's weren't his fault.  
  
He would never have done any of this if it hadn't been for her. It was Valerie's fault her family was killing each other.  
  
Andrew took a deep breath and another bite from the apple as he heard a few faint screams of terror and pain coming from above him. Knowing that the mother and father were now after each other with their weapons and Valerie was safe and sound somewhere upstairs, he sat in the rocking chair beside the fireplace and tried it out.  
  
He waited a long time in the darkness. He could hear the footsteps of both parents as they went after each other. Once in a while, he heard a bitter comment or a cry of pain. But mostly, it was just the movement that he heard that seemed to play in his head like a familiar show tune. He let her watch the killings. Both her mother and her father were well suited in the battle, he noticed quietly as he watched the time on the clock go by slowly.  
  
He was almost tempted to go upstairs and finish it for them the way time kept going by. But he decided it would effect Valerie better if she saw them do it to one another. Then, she would know the true power he had that he would use against her until she was his.  
  
When the battle was finally over, the mother came flying down the staircase. He came to stand beside her where a bloody puddle was filming from her body. Uninterested in how the mother fared, he quickly made his way back up the stairs to Valerie.  
  
There, Valerie was shaking.  
  
She was against the window in the middle of the hallway. Shadows crisscrossed all over her face, as she leaned against the cold glass shaking. She looked even more fragile then usual with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands holding them to her in protection.  
  
She slowly rocked back and forth in the moonlight.  
  
Her father laid on his stomach inches away from her. His black eyes staring into nothingness as blood swelled around his head. His axe hanging out of his back.  
  
The mother had definitely given the father a beating. Andrew grinned down a the bloody mess. So that's where Valerie got it from.  
  
Valerie saw him coming and started to back away. Which wasn't very far since she was already up against the window. Blood was all over the hardwood floor around her. Andrew noticed, he also noticed it caking all over her hands and bare feet as well as her white dress. So much blood.  
  
She looked like a crazed murderer as she rocked back and forth faster as he came closer to her. A few single tears fell down her cheeks as he reached out to clear them away.  
  
She looked insane. Like an insane asylum patient that had got away and had just went into a rage and killed people. When she saw him not stop moving towards her she slowly turned to the window and she started pounding on it as if the outside world would come and save her. Her pounding got even more fierce until the glass broke and fell to the ground outside.  
  
She looked at her hand confused at the blood that appeared there from a cut she received from the broken window.  
  
Something wasn't quite right inside of her now. She was in shock and the world around her barely seemed to be registering to her now. The only thing that did register to her was that he was there and he was a threat.  
  
A threat to others maybe. But never to her, he thought as he got closer to her. He kneeled on the ground beside her and took her hand in his to see the damage that she had just done to herself.  
  
And I am the one who's supposed to be in an asylum? He thought as he raised his eyebrows at her behavior. She was acting like a wild animal.  
  
Just as he touched her bloody arm she fainted. 


	26. Thoughts Weigh Heavy, Don't Get Drowned ...

Wow. It seems like it's been forever since I wrote. Sorry about that I was frequently busy with the holiday, visiting relatives, and all. Then, of course the website wouldn't let me log in. Oh well. I changed the title. I think it makes a bit more sense then the last one did. Of course, if anyone has a better title tell me and if its awesome I will change the one I replaced it with. I hope you're enjoying the story as it is. As always, please read and review. I appreciate all the feedback I get. Enjoy....  
  
=================================================== In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
==================================================  
  
Leo sat down on the old creaking bed next to Piper and looked down at their son. He was unconscious again. This time, luckily, he would come back to them on his own accord.  
  
Leo looked over at the mother of his children and smiled at her lovingly and kissed her forehead. Leaning over, he moved his hand over her back lightly massaging it as she gave a small sigh of relief.  
  
This pregnancy had been a surprise. It'd had been years without another baby, and they had grown used to it. They'd been so caught up with watching over Wyatt to make sure he didn't turn evil on them and then watching over Chris when he had become rebellious to authority for awhile that they hadn't even thought of another baby. They'd both thought their parenting days were over but they obviously were not.  
  
Leo secretly hoped that the baby was the little girl Piper had seen in her vision years ago.  
  
He knew she would never admit it, but when she'd had both boys she'd been waiting to see her new baby daughter. She'd been a little sad after Wyatt was born and then when she had known about Chris's birth before hand she hadn't had the chance of expecting a daughter. She had been sad that her precious daughter from the future wasn't there in her life with her.

Piper had always wanted a little girl to call her own. Somehow she had never gotten one and every once in a while it showed when she was going through old baby clothes or looking at other little baby girls. She had tried to hide it from everyone. She probably tried to even hide it from herself but Leo had seen it.  
  
It was easy to see.  
  
He remembered when Wyatt had come along and they had been expecting a baby girl. Everything had been set up for a baby girl, but it hadn't been so. Piper had loved Wyatt like no other anyways, but he had seen her slight let down.  
  
He'd hoped through this whole pregnancy that the little girl she'd seen would be a part of their family one day soon.  
  
Leo had never told Piper, and she had never really felt it, but whenever he'd had a spare moment since they'd given him back his status as an Elder, he had came back often to check on her and make sure she was okay. He'd come back often to see her passed out on the couch or on her bed still in the process of creating the new baby book. Wherever she was, she was always trying to take on more then she needed to take on.  
  
He'd tried to do what he could for her, but that hadn't been much as of late. Now, again, his family needed him and he would be there for them as long as that was needed.  
  
He had to admit he loved helping others. It was like second nature to him by now. But of course, the longer he was doing it the more he started to dislike being a guardian angel or even an Elder. It took him away from his family for far too long that he was starting to reevaluate his own priorities more. He was almost to the point of calling it quits.  
  
Especially, now with Piper's pregnancy taking a lot out of her. She'd never had an easy time with all their babies, Leo had to admit. Her first born, Wyatt, had been hard or her. When they'd found out she'd had toxemia, they'd had to give her as much bed rest as possible during that pregnancy. Then, Chris had come along. That pregnancy had been perfectly fine until it was time for Chris to be born then Piper had had to get a c-section.  
  
The baby that she was carrying now was slowing her down more then ever. She had to rest more then she had with both Chris and Wyatt. Of course, that was understandable being the fact that she wasn't as young as she used to be. There was, of course, one good thing with this baby and that was that the baby had a protective shield that it used to keep Piper safe and sound. Leo had to admit he was thankful for that. The baby was a lot like Wyatt trying to keep it's mommy safe and indestructible from the womb.  
  
Piper smiled over at Leo bringing him out of his thoughts on the past. It was the smile that he'd fallen in love with. Her smiles were unlike any others. They were gentle like the breeze on a spring morning, but the love that came from them was enough to knock him over at times. Every day that he woke up next to her he was surprised he hadn't been dreaming.  
  
They had been through so much. Somehow, they had conquered everything that had been thrown at them. And at least in this lifetime, they could be happy together.  
  
He looked down at Wyatt and took a deep breath.  
  
Wyatt's past life had caught up to him and now he had to find a way to save Victoria. Leo couldn't believe everything that Victoria had been through up until now. Wyatt's previous self giving her a curse that spanned through each of her lives that prevented her from ever being happy was barely believable for Leo.  
  
He couldn't help wondering what she had done to make Wyatt so angry at her let alone curse her forever. Leo almost wished he knew what had changed Wyatt evil in his last lifetime so that he could stop it from happening in this one also.  
  
He doubted that Wyatt had the time to even find that one out though.  
  
Leo looked at his son. Wyatt looked so much like him. He barely looked anything like Piper. Of course, Wyatt had inherited her quick temper though. He also had her giving heart, and her strong family values. His loyalty to the family was barely believable with everything he had done for them over the years.  
  
He'd vanquished demons early as a child. He'd had to.  
  
Piper had tried to keep him innocent to the world of witchcraft as a child, but it hadn't worked out. All the evil in the world knew how powerful he was and they had tried everything possible to get to him. Luckily, they hadn't succeeded in their trials.  
  
Leo could even remember when Wyatt had turned fourteen he had started putting the Book of Shadows on the computer saying the family had to get out of the prehistoric days and into the "technology era".  
  
He had even made a computer program where you could just type a description or a type of a demon or ghost in and it would pop up instantly on the screen along with all the information about it as well as the spell to vanquish it.  
  
Wyatt's computerized Book of Shadows had became popular over the years. Piper had liked it and used it quite a bit to make things go easier on everyone. She referred to it as the easiest thing in life that didn't require magic. It was her little personal gain without consequences.  
  
Of course, she also had claimed the Book of Shadows was a family antique and that they still had to use it as well as keep it up to date just in case something happened to the computerized version. She had made sure of that.  
  
Of course, whenever a new demon popped up Phoebe or Paige would add it in to the book just for old times sake just to keep Piper appeased.  
  
Wyatt had been like superman to the household. Whenever Leo had to be away he had taken over his role as man of the house. Of course while Wyatt was the superman of the household, Chris had always been the rebel.  
  
He had always tried to do everything quicker then everyone else as if to prove the point that he was just as good if not better then Wyatt. Chris had dabbled in magic early on in his life and had had a few bad events with it.

Once he'd even turned himself into a goblin because of his need to speed through everything.  
  
Leo couldn't remember exactly what Chris had done wrong with the spell but instead of going to Dublin one day to get away from the family he'd been turned into a goblin.  
  
Poor Chris.  
  
Leo had tried hard to make Chris feel as important as Wyatt. He'd gone out of his way in order to make Chris feel equal to Wyatt. He had promised himself as well as the old future Chris who had died in his arms that he wasn't going to let the bad things and the favoritism that had happened before to him in the old timeline happen to him again in this one. Not if Leo could help it.  
  
So far he had. Sure, they'd never seen eye to eye on some things, but they did get along pretty well. Once in awhile, Chris was angry because he was away helping others instead of with them all the time, but Leo knew he understood.  
  
Leo hated being away from them. Now more the ever. Especially with Piper being the way she was during this pregnancy. He wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure that the baby and her would be okay throughout it. He couldn't lose her. He didn't know how he'd react if he ever did.  
  
Leo smoothed Piper's dark brown hair away from her pale cheek as she looked down at their son. She was tired. He could tell. It had been a long day and it barely was even evening now.

He wished he could heal her fatigue away but his powers weren't that good. Not even as an Elder. He could comfort her, heal her from pain, grief, and sometimes death, he could save the world even, but he couldn't give her any more energy then she already had.  
  
He wished he could as she met his eyes. Her doe brown eyes looked into his warily. She needed to rest.  
  
Heck, she needed to change. He looked down over her dressy v-neck bright red top and long black skirt. She was soaking wet.  
  
It must've been the ice that Victoria had encased her in because she was very wet. He looked around the attic and found an old blue towel laying on the table, shaking whatever dust was still on it off, he placed it on her shoulders and dried her off a bit. Her shivering stopped instantly as she leaned back onto him and held his free hand in hers.  
  
"Piper, you're tired. You need to rest. I will watch over Wyatt. You go and rest," he said, softly drying her hair with the old towel.  
  
"No, no, no. I will not go and rest. Not now. Not after everything that happened today, he needs me here with him more then ever," she responded, lightly pressing Wyatt's hand as he laid on the bed beside her.  
  
He gave her no response. She hadn't expected one either. He was too far off to know what was happening in the attic.  
  
"Piper," Leo said, softly.  
  
"Leo, no. I am staying with him as long as it takes."  
  
Leo looked down on her. Her stubbornness showing in her dark brown eyes. He shook his head slightly trying to cover his smile. She could be so stubborn at times. He just wished she wouldn't pick now to be stubborn.  
  
He let her get off on this one. She would never leave Wyatt's side while he was unconscious. He knew he wouldn't be able to sway her without a little help from her sisters. Sometimes that barely even worked. Instead, he got up and gave her a quick tap of a kiss on her forehead again.  
  
Then, he went to the stained glass window to look out onto the world. Cars flew past the manor along with a few seldom walkers and a few stray dogs. The world was completely oblivious to what was going on inside the Halliwell Manor.

He barely could believe it himself at times.  
  
Especially with all the demons and apocalypses that had come to pass every so often. Sometimes he wondered if that were the best thing for the world to be oblivious about.  
  
Just as he thought this Wyatt came bursting awake behind him. He'd had enough time to turn and see his son gasping for air as if he'd been being strangled as Wyatt's bright blue eyes flew over his surroundings.  
  
Wyatt looked around the room. Trying to let it sink in that he was home. That he wasn't in the past that he had just witnessed. That he wasn't still in that world of evil. His mother quickly held him up by the shoulders. Her dark brown eyes looking into his in worry as he looked at her. Mom...  
  
He looked around the dimly lit attic to see Chris leaning against a wall nearby. He was standing up straight now and staring at him now with worry mirrored in his motions. Even now, Wyatt could feel the memories of his last life melt into his own.  
  
They took a life of their own inside his mind again. He felt the sickness of insanity that had been running through his veins from love and jealousy as he saw what he had done all over again  
  
_He took a deep breath and another bite from the apple as he heard a few faint screams of terror and pain coming from above him. Knowing that the mother and father were now after each other with their weapons and Valerie was safe and sound somewhere upstairs, he sat in the rocking chair beside the fireplace and tried it out. It was a good rocking chair. It fit snuggly around his body and rocked back in forth as he stared into the intensely flickering golden red flames.  
  
When the battle was finally over, her mother had come flying down the staircase. She had made an awful crashing noise as she did. She had distracted him from the lovely daydream his mind had been creating of himself with Valerie. He had went to stand beside her mother laying on the green marble floor beside the stairs where a red bloody puddle was filming from her body. Christmas colors, he thought vacantly as the blood meshed in with the green marble floor. Uninterested in how her mother had fared, he quickly made his way back up the stairs to Valerie.  
  
There, Valerie was shaking.  
  
She was sitting on the bloody floor leaning against the window in the middle of the hallway. Shadows crisscrossed all over her pale and beautiful face, as she leaned against the cold glass shaking. She looked even more fragile then usual with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands holding them to her in protection.  
  
She had looked like a deranged angel.  
  
She slowly rocked back and forth in the moonlight the moment she saw him.  
  
Her father laid on his stomach inches away from her. His black eyes staring into nothingness as blood swelled around his head. His axe hanging out of his back.  
  
He had never felt as good in this life as he had in that moment. He had beaten her down. He could feel the fear and the pain and the hysterical thoughts bubbling around inside of her. He smiled to himself knowing that now was the best time ever to use her lowered shields against her. Now, he could make her come be with him the way she was supposed to be with him. Now, she would love him.  
  
_Wyatt blinked away the memory as he found himself back in the attic. It was hard to catch his breath. He took a moment realizing his mother was speaking to him.  
  
"Wyatt? Wyatt? Breathe okay?" she told him, talking to him slowly in his shocked state of mind.  
  
He shook harder. He could still feel the slimy essence of insanity straining over him in this life. He shook it off slowly. It slowly dissipated as if it were trying to find a time to snake its way into his blood and change him back to the bastard that he had been.  
  
"Are you okay?" Piper asked, trying to warm him by rubbing his shoulders.  
  
"No, Mom. I.." he could barely speak. He didn't want to tell them the worst. He didn't want his mother or father to look at him as if he were a cold blooded murderer. He could barely believe it himself.  
  
"It's okay now. You're safe. You're home now with us." she said looking around at Leo and Chris with a small motion of her hand towards them.  
  
"But you aren't'" Wyatt said backing up to the rusty black frame of the creaky white bed. He didn't want his mother anywhere near him. There was no way of telling what he could do to her.  
  
"What?" Piper asked in surprise.  
  
"Not with me."  
  
"Oh, honey. It's alright. I know. You were evil in your last life , but that was your last life, sweetheart. You're good now." she said, half laughing as she placed her hand on his cheek trying to calm him down.  
  
She had never seen her son act like this. It was like he was a scared animal. It half amused her and half scared her. She didn't know if she really wanted to find out what he'd down in his last lifetime. Whatever it was it had to be bad the way he was acting. He'd never been one to overreact in his life, but here he was doing just that. She touched his cheek lightly. Hoping she could calm him down.  
  
Victoria was telling the truth for sure now. There was no doubt about that. She had been through hell. Wyatt had put her through hell.  
  
"I felt it mom. I felt it. I was..it felt right to me. It felt good to be evil Everything I did. Everything I said. Everyone I tortured. It all felt right. "he said, shaking his head.  
  
"Wyatt, you know what you did was wrong now. That's the difference. You were taught right and wrong in this lifetime and you're good now. Everyone you've saved and everyone in his house can vouch for you being good."  
  
"Mom, I tortured her. I killed her family right in front of her. I made her watch them die. I had them go against one another till they all were dead and I wasn't even satisfied. I wasn't even done with torturing her. I was just getting started." he said, trying to make them all understand how evil he was.  
  
"It's okay now, Wyatt." Leo said, trying to add his voice into the conversation to see if he could calm his son down.  
  
"No, dad. It's not okay. I was a monster." Wyatt told him reverently. Why couldn't they understand that. HE had been a monster. H still could be one, too. Evil had felt good. He had like it, enjoyed it, revered in every moment of it. There was no telling of what could happen to change him back.  
  
"You aren't evil now, Wyatt. You're good. That's what you chose to be growing up. That's all that you have given the world. You're goodness." Leo responded.  
  
Even as Leo had tried to help calm Wyatt. Wyatt slowly was pulled under again in a riptide of memory. Valerie was there with him now. She was cohesive and struggling.  
  
_He could feel the adrenaline rush through his blood as she struggled in his arms. It gave him a kick as he pulled her body close to his. He liked the struggle she gave him. It made it that much more sweeter.  
  
He'd drawn out his knife from his black overcoat and sharply cut her hand. Then his own and placed them roughly together as she breathed out in a hiss of pain. He had bonded them for life. Now, she would always belong to him. Never would someone else have her heart. Their blood mixed together as he smiled. She was now his. Blood in, blood out.  
  
She struggled more against him as she realized what he had done but he held her tightly in his grasp and took her bleeding hand to his mouth and licked away the blood trailing from the gash he'd made on her palm. "You taste so good."  
  
"It hurts." she said, her eyes fiercely glowering at him.  
  
"Love is meant to hurt."  
  
"You have it all wrong." Her voice whimpered inside his foggy mind.  
  
"I love you. I don't." he answered, quickly twirling her out into the hallway. There she broke away from his hands grip and leaned against the wall as she held her bloody, hurt hand. The creaking of Rebecca's swinging corpse was the only thing that they both could hear in the silence  
_  
Again, Wyatt woke from his memories murkiness.  
  
"No wonder she wanted me dead. I would have done the same thing." Wyatt said, quietly.  
  
He'd killed everyone she loved. He'd destroyed the home she had lived in. It didn't matter how horribly her past life's family had abused her he had destroyed them in front of her. It had been enough to turn anyone crazy. He had been so driven to hurt her for hurting him that he had struck as closest to him as he could. In the end, he had ruined hers.. He couldn't believe she was still sane.  
  
"Shhh. Now, did you find out anything at all that we could use to help her. Were there any talismans or amulets that could have been helping you?" Piper asked, holding her unresponsive son an arms length away from her.  
  
He was still in shock. He barely even seemed to be in the same room with her. Piper almost wished she hadn't sent him back in time to find out what he had done to Victoria.  
  
Whatever it had been it had really triggered something to go off in him to make him act this way. Her poor baby boy. She hugged him tightly to her. She wouldn't let him turn evil. She'd protect him. She'd show him he was good.  
  
"There was nothing. I'm sorry mom." he said softly as he slowly came back to her.  
  
She let him go and nodded. She had doubted it would be easy. Nothing ever was for them. "That's okay. We'll figure something out. But for now, come on. "  
  
"Where?" he asked, as she slowly got off the bed with Leo's assistance.  
  
"Downstairs, of course. We have to go tell Victoria something. Maybe, she can remember something to help us." Piper said as she finally had her balance.  
  
It was surprising how hard it was to get up with the baby now a days. She felt like she was carrying around a few whole watermelons instead of a baby sometimes She leaned against her husband for a moments strength. Hopefully, Victoria could remember something since she'd said she'd relived her past life. If not they would have to play it off by ear.  
  
She looked down at her son. She was surprised to see him looking up at her in denial of what she had just suggested. His beautiful brilliant blue eyes the color of sunrise as he did. He shook hid head vehemently up at her.  
  
"No way!"


	27. The Fallen Interlude

"Where?" Wyatt asked her as Piper slowly got off the bed with Leo's assistance.  
  
"Downstairs, of course. We have to go tell Victoria something. Maybe, she can remember something to help us." Piper replied as she finally had her balance.  
  
Piper looked down at her son. She was surprised to see him looking up at her in denial of what she had just suggested. His beautiful blue eyes the color of sunrise as he did. He shook his head vehemently up at her.  
  
"No way!" Wyatt cried, his arms crossing over his broad chest.  
  
"What now?" Piper asked, with her own hand already going to rest on her hip in her trade mark position.  
  
She couldn't believe her son was acting this way. Here they were with an innocent - well maybe innocent wasn't the best term for Victoria. Since she sure wasn't innocent material after the power she had just showed them in the last few hours- who was downstairs waiting for their help at that very moment. Not to mention the fact that time wasn't exactly slowing down for them while they solved this riddle.  
  
"There's no way in hell that I'm going down there now!" Wyatt repeated.  
  
He got up off the bed quickly and took a few steps away from his parents. They both stared at him as if he had gone crazy, but they didn't have any clue how bad... how evil he had been in his last lifetime. Not to mention the fact that he had actually enjoyed every moment of it.  
  
Everything was just moving too fast for him and he didn't know what to do with it. He wanted to take a breather, or something. He needed a few seconds to feel like his old self again.  
  
There's no way of telling what he would do when he saw her again. He didn't know if his former self would react now that he knew who she was or had been to him. He didn't want to put her in any danger. Not after everything he had already done to her.  
  
Of course, there was the little detail that he didn't want to face her. He wanted to avoid her at all costs. How could he even make it up to her? How could he make it all better for her after what his past life's actions had caused.  
  
He wasn't going to play the fool and think that she would just forgive him, or even trust him now that he knew what he had done. He wasn't going to think this was something that could be easily resolved.  
  
He really didn't want to face her after what he had done. He wanted to be as far from her as possible.  
  
He didn't know how to handle the situation. He'd never been the evil one before. He'd always been the good son and the powerful guardian angel that protected everyone he possibly could. He had never been the one others were getting revenge with. Well, not others that were good anyways.  
  
This was just too much to deal with.  
  
"What now?" Piper asked, sighing.  
  
She took her seat on the bed again. She had a feeling that this may take awhile longer to get Wyatt anywhere near Victoria again. Whatever he had done to her must have been worse then she possibly could imagine because the thought for him of being in the same room as Victoria was upsetting him more then Piper had expected.  
  
She didn't blame her son for not wanting to deal with the situation. Especially, after she'd seen him beating himself up so badly over it.  
  
"I can't face her after that." Wyatt told her. It was the best explanation he could give them. It was the simplest way he could say what he meant with words even.  
  
"Wyatt, "Piper and Leo both said in unison, exasperated.  
  
"I hurt her. Deliberately hurt her, mom."  
  
"I know, Wyatt." Piper replied, wishing she could comfort her son.  
  
"You can't possibly know what I did to her," he cried, throwing his hands up into the air.  
  
"Whatever it was we'll work through it." Leo told his son firmly.  
  
Leo was almost glowing as he stood beside Piper with his wise Elder ways shining through. Right at that moment, Wyatt could barely take his father's presence. He couldn't deal with his dad's good hearted 'we can get through anything as long as we're together' catch phrase nature. He wanted to tell his father to take what he had just said and shove it where the sun didn't shine.  
  
They didn't know. His father sure didn't know what he had done in his last lifetime. It wasn't something they could work through. It was already set in stone. It was something he had done years ago to a beautiful defenseless girl that he had fallen in love with.  
  
He had cursed her. He had been a curse to her from the moment he'd entered her life till the last breath she had taken. He had cursed her a long time ago with a great amount of power, and after all these years, he didn't believe that they could work through it. Not even if her life depended on it.  
  
"You don't understand." he whispered, barely being able to control his powers as they rage inside of him.  
  
He wanted to break something. He wanted to destroy the whole attic with his powers just so that he could feel just a little bit better then he did now. He wanted to release his inhibitions for one second so that he could regain his sanity and possibly his calm.  
  
He didn't though. He just looked into his mother's unwavering steady brown eyes. Somehow, just by looking into her loving eyes she brought him down from the anger and confusion troubling itself inside of him.  
  
"Try me," she said to him calmly.  
  
He took a moment. Letting the words she'd said register in his mind, and then he answered her, "I hurt her. Not once but every chance I could get in any way I could find. I killed her family, mom." he said, pointedly. Then, he said to his dad pointedly trying to make him understand how evil he was. "I cursed her. I know what I saw. I don't know if I had any help with any of my power. I think I just did everything on my own. Which isn't useful at all to her because that means we can't save her. I'm not helping matters here. I'm only making them worse for her."  
  
"Wyatt, get over it." Piper said, with her head in her hands.  
  
It was the last thing he had expected from her. He was hoping for some concern. Maybe, a helpful heartfelt suggestion of how he wasn't evil and that would be okay. Instead, she had said 'get over it' as if it were an everyday occurrence that he realized he had been evil in his last lifetime and had cursed an innocent girl because of it. As if it were that easy to get over.  
  
"Right, sure. I'll just do that. Watch me getting over it right now," Wyatt replied, bitterly.  
  
Nice suggestion, mom. You really made me feel so much better about myself as well as the situation. I think I will just do exactly what you said. You want me to bend over backwards too? See how far I can go without touching the floor? He asked her quietly as he glared at his parents.  
  
Get over it, right.  
  
"Wyatt!" Piper cried.  
  
"What? What do I do? What do I say then, mom? What's the best thing for me to say to her now that she has no hope in the world to survive tonight? What? You want me to say I'm sorry? Should I kiss it and make it all better? Or should I say something else to her? Should I say uh I'm sorry I brutally murdered your family right in front of you so you could have a first row seat to their deaths and then I decided to torture you because I had nothing better to do? Hope you aren't traumatized or anything because of it. Hope you can get over that. Then, what should I say almighty knowing ones? See you next lifetime? Hope the curse doesn't destroy you completely by then," Wyatt asked, laughing bitterly as he said his peace.  
  
Piper shook her aching head. Sure he was right about it. She didn't know what he could do. It wasn't like this type of thing happened everyday. It wasn't like they had a manual to refer to about these situations that always seemed to arise in their family.  
  
She had just been so tired at the moment, so irritable after everything that had happened that day, that what she said right then about getting over it was the only thing that had come to mind. Sure, it wasn't the best advice, but to her ears it seemed fine.  
  
They needed to deal with what he had done. They couldn't cower up in the attic the whole time. So, the best thing she could think of was for him to get over it. Then, they would be fine. Then, they could try to find a way to save Victoria from the curse.  
  
"Apologize to her then. Honey, I don't know what you should do. But I know one thing. She has until midnight. Which is in about four hours. So get your butt in gear and let's go downstairs and let's try to figure this thing out together." Piper told him rubbing her head.  
  
"You aren't helping her by being up here avoiding the situation, Wyatt. We need you downstairs with everyone else. Seven heads are better then six." Leo told him adding his voice into the discussion in order to help relieve the tension of the situation on Piper. Then he added, "Especially, when number seven started this whole mess in his last life."  
  
"I know, dad." Wyatt replied, taking a moment.  
  
Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to collect himself as he surveyed the attic. They were right. They usually always were.  
  
He couldn't hide up here when he was the much needed piece to the puzzle. He had to forget about what he had just witnessed for the time being and figure out a way to help her. Hopefully, there was one.  
  
He still wished he could just not go. He wanted to avoid the situation at all costs, but that would never be beneficial to anyone. Especially, Victoria.  
  
"Fine. Let's get this over with before I change my mind," he grumbled in agreement. 


	28. Discovering The Truth About OZ

Sorry for the delay. This's a long one. Enjoy and as always review it. ===================================================

Downstairs in the sitting room, a large fire had been made inside the fireplace. A few small touch lamps around the room were on, but the room was still obscured more in shadow.  
  
The fire's flames created wavering shadows over the room surrounding it in a fever of mystery that covered its three occupants.

Phoebe sat on the couch gingerly sipping a freshly brewed cup of blackberry tea, and Paige sat on the alternate edge of one of the couch's arms with her arms crossed over her chest and her attention drawn to a shard of deadly looking wood beside her foot on the white carpet. Piper was going to have a spaz attack after she saw the room.  
  
There was a small silence in the room. It was as if they all had chosen that very moment to contemplate what had happened between them.

Somehow it seemed like too much had happened in just one day to be real.  
  
It was so silent that they all were awakened from their thoughts by a jarring honk that came from outside of the house. Their heads came up together and looked towards the window. None of them got up though. The outside was tame compared to what had happened between them so far that day.  
  
Phoebe took another sip of her tea and looked around the room. She looked at Paige who raised her eyebrows as if to say 'well'. Phoebe gave her a glare. She didn't know what to do or say. This was all too weird.  
  
She couldn't think of anything to even break the silence with as she watched Victoria.  
  
Victoria walked around slowly letting the room sink in around her. She looked at the one big window leading into the front yard and the three doors to other rooms of the house. One led to the front door hallway, the other the room before the kitchen, and the last to the solarium. If she had to- if they had only tricked her into saving their precious nephew- she would use the closest exit as soon as possible.  
  
She stopped beside the couch and table that held pictures of the family. Victoria slowly picked up a picture of the three sisters together. Each were smiling their own smile that framed their personalities at the camera.  
  
Phoebe had a firm arm around her sister Piper with a giant warm smile directed at the camera and another arm around Paige. It looked as if she'd been trying to block Paige from seeing the camera. Paige was swatting her hand away and laughing hysterically in the picture with her hair swept along in the breeze. Piper was smiling confidently at the camera.

She was the one the camera was centered on.  
  
Whoever had taken the picture had only had eyes for her because they had caught in her the very thing that kept her going. Her love for her sisters shone in her eyes as she smiled brilliantly at the camera.  
  
Victoria smiled slightly. It was more of a grim line that parted over her deep red lips. She barely realized that she'd been doing it.  
  
She'd had many pictures taken of sister and herself. They were in an album somewhere among the police tape and dead bodies at home.  
  
She could remember the last picture that they'd taken together.  
  
It had been after her father had been remarried to her stepmother.  
  
She'd been thirteen and her sister fifteen. Her grandmother had let them down slowly that day. She'd waited till the end to tell them that she was dying of cancer.  
  
They'd been to the graveyard. Her stepmother had drug them along for their annual grave rubbings anniversary that she decided to keep up in memory of their mother. Alexis had hated being there. She'd always hated anything relating to death.  
  
Alexis had wanted to go to some local concert of her friend's brother's band instead, but their stepmother had told her she couldn't. Instead, she'd had to come along with her stepmother and younger sister to a graveyard of all places because they hadn't had enough 'quality time. Just the three of them' like their grandmother had said.  
  
They'd talked about death that day.  
  
It had been one of the only days that her sister had even briefly admitted its existence. She'd usually just claimed she'd live forever and that would be that. But that day, that day was the day that Alexis had been willing to give in and accept the inevitable.  
  
Her words still haunted her as Victoria's hands shook as she held onto the frame for dear life and sanity.  
  
"Death is like a car That disappears around a curve, Or like an ancient custom  
  
That we've failed to preserve. The car continues going Even though we cannot see,  
  
And the custom just remains Itself, outside of memory. Death is a relation  
  
To a certain time and place" she'd said. Then, she'd added the poets name. "Nicholas Gordon."  
  
Right after her sister had told her that, her stepmother had taken the picture of them together rubbing the hell out of an old graves remnants.

She'd had a surprised.. Shocked even look in the picture, but her sister had looked perfectly calm and collected. It had been her grandmother's favorite picture. When their grandmother had died the picture had disappeared.  
  
Her sister had been right about death. It took her with it around the bend in the road as well as it had taken everyone else that she loved. Her family. Her friends.  
  
Mark.  
  
Victoria felt sick. It wasn't for what she had lost though. She felt sick because she was hollow inside. It was as if all the people that had died had taken a piece of her with them. She barely felt alive or caring or feeling even. She felt hollow. She felt an indifference to life that was scolding her heart.  
  
Her sister, the one who had never believed in death, was now lying on the ground dead. Her life had been snuffed out like a candles flame. The only person that had been there for her her whole life, who knew her more then she had ever wanted anyone else to was dead.  
  
Shut up, Victoria. She told herself calmly, this will all be over soon. Whether by the Charmed Ones actually saving her or else by her untimely, inevitable death. She had to be strong for the time being. If there wasn't a chance for her then she would leave.  
  
As she stood there in the darkly lit sitting room, she shook off the only thing she had felt since her revenge and hatred for her enemy had taken over. She shook of the fatigue that came with knowing that she was a rat in a cage. Her life and death experiment was simply almost over.  
  
She smiled bitterly at the thoughts boiling inside her sleep deprived mind. They were taking too long. They probably had no way to save her and were trying to find another way. She just wished they'd show themselves and tell her already.  
  
If she were to die she wanted to be alone. At least, she would have the choice and simple luxury of being able to die in her sleep. She laughed bitterly in the quiet room. It was the only sound amongst the darkness.  
  
She put the picture down on the table in its rightful place. She wondered where her rightful place was. Dead? Alive? Limbo? Heaven or hell? Or maybe she was simply meant to be cursed forever and lost inside the never ending pain of loss and sadness.  
  
She turned back to Phoebe and Paige as they watched her suspiciously. She didn't blame them. She would have done the same.  
  
They were her new allies for the moment. Surprisingly, she felt more trust for them then she had ever expected to feel for someone in her life. Perhaps it was because she was going to die and they were quite simply the only chance she had.  
  
How wonderful.  
  
She shivered in the cold breeze that clung to her side and swept up inside her bones. She could feel the presence of death in the room following her everywhere she went. She couldn't see him though. But he reminded her every chance he had that her time was running out.  
  
She hoped death was a he. Otherwise, if he/she/it could read minds it would be pissed with her assumptions.  
  
She shook the cold from her still breathing, warm body and looked at the sisters. It must be nice to not know when you were going to die. It must be nice to have a get out of jail free card to death because you had a white lighter.  
  
"You're all so close," she said softly barely realizing she had said what she'd been thinking.  
  
The Charmed Ones.  
  
She had to admit it was ingenious to make them sisters. Not only were they bonded by magic, but also by blood. The only way to ruin their bond was by death, but they were too powerful to die. Not to mention the fact that they had many white lighters in their family.  
  
The only other way to break their bond to kill them was to make them go against one another. Interesting, she thought as she slid into a chair facing the fireplace with half her pale face concealed in shadow. If they chose to deceive her and she survived their deception then she would use her last moments alive to destroy the power of three if she had to.  
  
"Yeah, sisterly bonds. Gotta love them," Paige said, smiling.  
  
Paige was still slightly creeped out by how Victoria was acting. Of course, if she were cursed to die in every lifetime she had then she sure as hell would probably be acting the same way. Just in case, Paige decided that she'd have to keep a close eye on her for the time being.  
  
"I did." Victoria replied, leaning as far back in the chair as possible. She could feel her emotions surfacing and she didn't want to show them to the Charmed Ones. She wanted to keep them to herself. There was no way that she could let them see a weakness if she were going to try to survive.  
  
She wasn't fooling herself. If they did successfully save her she knew there would be too many unanswered questions. If they saved her from the curse ever impacting her life again then they could easily try to vanquish her in this life. They didn't know who's side she was actually on. She wasn't willing to choose either.  
  
She was on her own side. Hopefully, that side would win and she would survive and be left alone.  
  
She doubted it.  
  
The minute they figured a way to stop the curse from harassing her in other lifetimes they would vanquish her. That way she wouldn't be a possible future threat to them. They could go back to their petty little lives and say they all did it for the better good for her. They'd rationalize their choice by saying that this way she could start all over again and be happy in the next life and not have to be constantly reminded of what she'd lost in her last lifetimes.  
  
She knew they would do that. Sooner or later, that would be their final decision.  
  
She didn't blame them entirely for it either. She would've done the same thing in their shoes. However, she wasn't in their 'I'm so perfect, so wonderful, and so powerful because I'm a Charmed One' shoes so she was going to do everything she could do to survive.  
  
"You have a sister?" Paige asked her as she watched them.  
  
"Yeah, I did. We went through so much stuff together." Victoria said, smiling a rare smile as she remember the time that Alexis and she had been in trouble. Alexis had had to house-sat for the Shomocker's house and had been pretty impressed with their old fashioned laundry chute.  
  
She'd been so impressed that she'd accidentally dropped her ham sandwich down the chute while she'd been looking at it. Instead of just falling to the bottom where the clothes were, the ham had stuck itself to the inside of the chute. It'd been too out of reach for with her sister and she couldn't get it up with a broom or anything because it only made it a bigger disaster.  
  
Alexis had finally called her over to help and Alexis had had Victoria hold onto her shoes as she picked off the particles of ham from the chute.

Of course, that had been an even bigger disaster. Alexis had somehow gotten stuck in the shoot and they had had to call 9-1-1 to get her out. Needless to say, Alexis became the butt of a lot of people's jokes that year.  
  
"Lots of trouble." Victoria added.  
  
"Yeah." Paige asked lightly, raising her eyebrows in the air. What kind of trouble? She wondered.  
  
The magic Victoria had just displayed in order to kill Wyatt made her wonder about that one.  
  
Did Victoria use her magic for good or evil? Was it magical trouble or regular trouble that her sister and she had gotten into?

Paige doubted it was regular. It had to be magical. If Paige, herself, had known she was powerful when she was younger than she would have done the same thing.  
  
"Yeah. I even got into a little trouble with her myself by inviting this guy she liked to come to my wedding. They were meant to be you could just tell. It would have worked out well, too. If..." Victoria had started loudly almost happily retelling her little ploy to set her sister up, but at the end of her statement she stopped softly.

Sometimes, reality seemed to rash.. Too harsh even to be real.  
  
"Wedding? Wait you're married?" Phoebe interrupted, laughing a little in surprise.  
  
Victoria didn't answer aloud. Instead, she merely shook her head. It was too hard to admit what had happened.  
  
Revenge for her had been so easy. So nice to use to cover the pain or the slowly forming coldness in her heart. But reality was far worse then her revenge had been on Wyatt.  
  
"Oh, did you get cold feet." Phoebe asked.  
  
"No." It was all she could do to say that one word.  
  
"Oh, did he?" Phoebe asked, more softly. She didn't want to open up an old wound. She knew how it felt to be burned.  
  
Plus, she sure as heck didn't want to see what would happen if Victoria actually was emotional. It would be a lot worse on her if Victoria started showing her emotions. It almost seemed like Victoria wasn't human after everything. Her crying would break the spell over them and Phoebe wasn't sure how she would reach to that.  
  
"No, he was excited. He cried at the altar when I came down the aisle." Victoria told them.  
  
Her eyes betrayed her. They were so far away as if she were reliving everything all over again. Both Phoebe and Paige exchanged a quick look. They weren't sure if they wanted to open this can of worms.  
  
"Okay, yet you aren't married?" Paige asked, confused.  
  
"Today was my wedding day."  
  
"Okay, so it's your wedding day. So why aren't you there instead of here?" Phoebe asked, her face crumpling into confusion.  
  
"It ended abruptly you could say," Victoria said bitterly. She got up quickly and moved to the window. Both Paige and Phoebe got up just as quickly and stayed where they were. Ready for anything. Ready for her to attack or try to escape.  
  
Victoria looked outside the window. The sun had set along time ago. it's pinkish orange hues had been stolen from the bittersweet deepening dark blue of the sky awhile ago.

It had been her last sunset.  
  
"Confused here?" Paige said, trying to get Victoria's attention. Still not sure what was going to happen.  
  
"I don't know what happened okay. The curse, I guess. He didn't want me to ever be happy if it didn't include him. So he made it so that if I ever experienced happiness I would be punished." Victoria told them vehemently. Her anger was very evident.  
  
Phoebe and Paige looked at each other with growing eyes. Damn, it was too late now. They had opened the can of worms and now they had to deal with the aftermath. However hard it would be for them to deal with the fact that Victoria just wasn't some evil demon there to wreck havoc on their lives, but instead a human being that had just been through a nightmare.  
  
"Oh god. Your wedding day is supposed to be your happiest day of your life." Phoebe whispered loudly.  
  
She didn't know what to do. One minute she wanted to go to Victoria and hug her so that she could grieve in a normal way. A way that didn't consist of her killing her nephew or using her magic to hurt others.  
  
Yet she stayed where she was. She wasn't sure what Victoria would do if she acted on her reactions. She didn't want to wind up dead for trying to give the girl a hug either.  
  
"It was prefect you know. All my friends, my family, I swear anyone I ever met was there to witness it. My family even went all out. "  
  
"I'm sorry." Phoebe said in a hushed voice.  
  
"I was standing there at the altar and Mark was there with me. He was crying. He looked so sad but I'd never seen him so happy before in his life. Is that possible?"she didn't wait for an answer. Victoria just went on, "We were about to start the ceremony. He was holding my hands. It was the first time my father had ever said he liked someone I brought home. Mark, he liked him, and then I was standing there and he had my hands in his and I was finally getting married. We were going to be together forever. I was so happy. Then, there was a light or something. I was blinded and then Mark wasn't with me anymore. Everyone was dead when I woke up. Mark died in my arms." she said, a tear falling down her cheek as she turned to them.  
  
Both stood in their places. Paige and Phoebe slowly realized that not only was she more human to them then before, but she was beautiful. She looked like an angel mourning for humanity. Instead, she was merely a lonely girl who had lost everything in a matter of moments for no other reason but for a jealous sociopath of a warlock's curse.  
  
"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. We're gonna fix this I swear." Phoebe promised as she went to Victoria and gave her a warm hug. What had been holding her back before was now gone. She quietly motioned Paige over to hug Victoria too with a small wave of her hand.  
  
"There is no fixing this." Victoria said, leaving the hug just as quickly as it took for Paige to join it.  
  
She was almost willing to be dead now. At least dead she would be with everyone she cared about. And, at least, she wouldn't have to feel a thing. She'd be at rest.  
  
She looked over to them. They were standing there not knowing exactly what to do or say to her. It was hard to believe that they even cared after what she had put them through. "It's okay. I've dealt with it. I mourned. I have to. I'm dying. I have to do these things quicker then everyone else."  
  
"How are you really doing?" Paige asked, wrinkling her brow.  
  
"Three hours and forty-five minutes. Counting down to my death." she giggled, staring at the wooden floor and kicking a wood piece out of her path. She couldn't believe she was even telling them the truth.  
  
"We are going to save you." Phoebe replied, firmly.  
  
"I can't be saved. I have come to terms with it. Don't worry about it. " Victoria said, shaking her head and half smiling sadly.  
  
"Well, for going through the five stages of death she's sure hit acceptance rather hard." Paige commented casting her head to the side in thought.  
  
"Ha ha. Well, you're right about one thing for once. I guess I should get rid of unfinished business now because of it. So, so I don't get bad karma in my next life, like I need it anyways, I guess I should say something like I'm sorry I almost killed all of you. It wasn't my intention to do so. I only wanted to beat down, torture, curse, mutilate, and maim your nephew for what he did to me," Victoria said matter of factly.  
  
"Yeah, well uh, apology accepted I guess. But don't worry about that, we die all the time anyways . We are kind of used to it." Paige answered, then she thought a moment. "Hold on a sec. The apology is only accepted if you don't go through with your plan."  
  
Before Victoria could reply to what had been said they had an unwarranted visit.

Piper and Leo came into the room. Piper leaning against Leo the whole time and holding his hand warmly in hers. She wasn't sure what would happen when Victoria found out there wasn't anything they could use as of yet so she wanted the ability of Leo orbing Wyatt, her sisters and her out as quickly as possible.  
  
"Hey, you guys. What's going on?" Piper asked, looking around at her sisters expressions.

Paige gave Piper a muffled smile.  
  
"Oh, Piper. And Wyatt, you're finally up!" Phoebe cried, smiling. She relieved the tension in the room that had been accumulating as she went to oldest nephew to ruffle his hair and gave him a big bear hug.  
  
"Hey, did you figure out how to end the curse?" Paige asked, instantly.  
  
"Uh, no. Not yet." Wyatt said, uncertainly. He was just waiting for Victoria to freak out and kill him soon. He didn't even look in her direction as he answered Paige. He didn't want to see the let down; he didn't want to see her realize that she was going to die young.  
  
"Well now what are we supposed to do?" Paige asked, her hands quickly being placed on her hips.  
  
"Hey, don't look at me. I just realized I was evil in my last lifetime." Wyatt cried when everyone looked at him for some kind of answers. He had no epiphanies. He felt raw and used and impotent in the situation he was facing.  
  
"Looks like your suffering from a little post traumatic stress there, Wyatt." Paige said, as she went over to him and placed her arm around his shoulders.

Her poor nephew. He had never been able to admit he wasn't superman. He had to be beating himself up for everything.  
  
"No, I'm not!" Wyatt replied, annoyed. He shook off her arm and went to stand in the doorway. It was easier for him to think when he wasn't as apart of the madness in the room. It was easier to breathe.  
  
"Leo! What did you find out?" Phoebe asked, quickly trying to change the subject to lay the attention off of Wyatt. It worked.  
  
"A lot actually." Leo replied, he slowly took his eyes off of his uneasy son.  
  
"Well tell us already. She's pretty tight lipped as it is about herself. Why not give us the unabridged version of who she is so we can figure something out." Paige insisted.  
  
"Well, Victoria is," Leo slowly started.  
  
"Extremely powerful. And soon she'll be our ally if she lives through all this." Piper ended his sentence. The part, at least, that she knew.  
  
"Wow, welcome to the good side of the force," Phoebe said in reference to Star Wars.  
  
"I was never bad." Victoria answered, serenely.  
  
"Talk about a turn of events." Paige added.  
  
She took a good look at Victoria.  
  
The girl standing in front of her now barely looked powerful. If anything she looked like someone that Paige would otherwise see in the mall trying to find a perfect set of shoes for her prom dress. To know that she was going to be a powerful ally was weird. Especially, after she'd almost killed all of them. Except for Phoebe, since she'd chose to come in late.  
  
"But wait, how did she get so powerful. She's not a Halliwell, is she." Phoebe asked. She wasn't exactly sure if she was willing to hear that there was another illegitimate Halliwell running around in the world. It was enough for them to discover Paige existed after Prue had died.  
  
"Well.. that's a bit of a story." Leo responded.  
  
Leo looked down at his wife. She nodded to him. Her dark brown eyes watching his face as he told them the true origins of the girl who had earlier been an enemy, but now their ally. He knew it was hard for them to accept. He only hoped that they did. Fast, too, since time was running out. He hoped also that the story of Victoria's life would help them figure something out.  
  
"Alright, we're all ears." Piper told her husband.  
  
"Well, remember the Titans?"  
  
"What? The Titans? Oh my god. Yeah!" Phoebe answered as she realized what he was saying.  
  
"Well, while they were here trying to destroy the world and make it their own, Cronus wanted Victoria's mother for his own. So, he ended up taking on the identity of Victoria's father while he was away at military base. And well, you all know where that lead," Leo said clapping his hands together and pointing at a stony Victoria who's expression was priceless.  
  
Leo could tell she wasn't willing to admit the truth. She knew though. Deep down inside she had always known that her father wasn't the man her mother had said he was. Yet by telling her this in this way was cutting deep into her emotions.

She was a god. Now she knew it.  
  
"Wow, part god. That has got to be awesome." Phoebe laughed.  
  
"So you're a goddess now." Piper said to Victoria, but to Leo she turned to and whispered to Leo with tight lips and large eyes." Leo, do we need to talk about this?"  
  
"No, we don't. According to the Elders, she's good. And that's only half of her heritage." Leo said, knowing that this was like dropping a bombshell on WW2.  
  
"Go on," Paige told him.  
  
Leave it to Paige to want to know everything, leave it to Piper to start worrying inconstantly, and leave it to Phoebe to accept it all.  
  
"Her mother happened to be a very powerful witch, too. A witch who happened to be related to The Crone." Leo told them. Then, he waited for a response. He waited for another world war. Instead, there was silence and exchanged stares.  
  
"No wonder she's so good." Paige said aloud.  
  
"So okay. Let me get his straight. She has both witch and god-like powers. But I thought that if a human had god-like powers they would lose their humanity and then go crazy or something really, really bad." Phoebe commented in confusion.  
  
"No, actually, she's had her powers since birth. That's the difference. She was basically born human and raised as a human with morals and values. Since she was born with her powers they can't take her humanity away from her. " Leo informed all of them.  
  
"Okay that was a mouthful. All I got was she's human. And that's a good thing," Paige said, annoyed slightly.  
  
"Well, its difficult to explain."  
  
"Never mind that. We don't have time to discuss what makes sense. Back to the problem," Piper quickly said waving her hands in front of her.  
  
"Hold on a second. Do you think that her god-like powers can keep the curse from killing her?" Paige asked. "Gods are hard to defeat, right?"  
  
"No, it won't work. A curse is a curse. Even gods can be cursed and they have to bare it, too." Leo told them. All their hopeful faces fell. He really hated being the bearer of bad news.  
  
"Damn." Paige muttered.

"So, after all of that, you've found out nothing? "Victoria asked, frustrated to say the least.  
  
"To sum it up. Yeah. Sorry." Piper replied. She was the only one willing to tell Victoria the truth at the moment.  
  
"Great. Just great. Well, I guess I better accept what's happening to me then right," Victoria said, laughing crudely.

She shook her head and looked up at the white ceiling not willing to let the tears fall from her eyes. She should have never even hoped... even thought that she could live and be happy and be curse free. Who the hell did she think she was fooling?  
  
Obviously herself.  
  
"No way we'll find a way" Phoebe told her, going to her and reaching out to her to comfort her.  
  
"Sure." Victoria said, taking a step out of the comforting grasp Phoebe was offering. "I've already lost everything else this death thing should really be a piece of cake."  
  
"Your life is going to turn out better then this. Do you hear me? I don't care what happened at your wedding or about the curse. We are going to find a way. You can't just give up." Phoebe told her urgently trying to raise Victoria's hope.

"Whoa whoa whoa. What's all this about a wedding?" Piper asked, completely confused.  
  
Great, I try to comfort my son and get him down here to save Victoria. At least, face her, and I miss everything. Wedding? Wasn't Victoria a little too young to be getting married to anybody?  
  
"Oh yeah. You weren't here for that part." Phoebe said.  
  
"Well, Victoria was supposed to be getting married right about now, but the curse destroyed it," Paige informed Piper with a frown.  
  
"Actually, I would be having the reception about now." Victoria told them, trying to think logically. Hopefully that would help her from crying like a baby.  
  
"Married? Aren't you a little young?" Piper asked.  
  
"Yes and no." Victoria responded.  
  
"Well, then what happened?" Piper asked.  
  
"My whole family, friends, the priest. Mark.." she said again only now to the oldest sister trying not to cry. But she couldn't speak anymore. Instead, her throat closed up on her and she turned her back on them.  
  
"It's okay sweetie. It'll be okay." Phoebe told her soothingly, not moving closer to Victoria since her comfort wasn't wanted, but not leaving her side either.  
  
"How is it ok? Everyone is dead! Everyone I know is dead. This was supposed to be my wedding day and I'm spending it here with all of you. Cursed, none the less!" Victoria cried.  
  
She turned back to them for an answer they couldn't give. Her face was filled with a series of constant emotions that ranged from anger, hatred, sadness, vehemence, and fear. Then, she shook her head at them and started laughing bitterly in hysteria. 


	29. The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance

And so it begins....Thank you for all of your reviews. Keep them coming.  
  
===================================================  
  
"My whole family, friends, the priest. Mark.." she said again only now to the third sister trying not to cry. But she couldn't speak anymore. Instead, her throat closed up on her and she turned her back on them.  
  
"It's okay sweetie. It'll be okay." Phoebe told her soothingly, not moving closer to Victoria since her comfort wasn't wanted, but not leaving her side either.  
  
"How is it ok? Everyone is dead! Everyone I know is dead. This was supposed to be my wedding day and I'm spending it here with all of you. Cursed, none the less." Victoria cried.  
  
She turned back to them for an answer that they couldn't give. Her face was filled with a series of constant emotions that ranged from anger, hatred, sadness, vehemence, and fear. Then, she shook her head at them and started laughing bitterly in hysteria. She shook inside of her own skin.  
  
While she stood sulking in front of them, the power buried inside of her radiating from within her, Wyatt realized she was one of the most beautiful people he'd ever seen. Of anytime to fall in love with someone, now was the worst time, but he couldn't help it.  
  
She was beautiful. Even more beautiful and even more complicated then in her last lifetime.  
  
He stared at her dumbfounded as he realized what he was doing, but it was too late. The pain and emotions were drawing over the surface of her wide blue eyes that were looking into him in hatred. He knew she hated him more then life itself. Or else, she hated the past him since she didn't know the new, improved good version of him.  
  
He wished they had met under different circumstances. Maybe, they would have been happy together otherwise.  
  
Wyatt swallowed hard as he tried to brush away his feelings. At least the ones for her. But they were holding onto him tightly. All he wanted to do at the moment was save her. Once he had done so he was waiting for her to fall into his arms, kiss him, and lead him off into a private room where he could show her how much he felt for her.  
  
He knew that would never happen.  
  
There was too much of a past between them that would trifle with the whole thing. She would never look at him with her luminous violet- blue eyes and be happy to be with him. She would always see his past life's self and all the inflictions his past self had put into her life. He'd never be able to run his hands through her silky, reddish-brown hair and hold her in his arms.  
  
Whatever he felt for her now would stay bottled inside of him forever probably. Unless, of course, she changed her mind about him. Which, let's face it, would take a long, long time to do if she ever did.  
  
Knowing this, Wyatt stood in the doorway to the sitting room and kicked at the floor. His eyes burning as he looked at the wood chunks littering the ground from the door she'd blown in to get to him. She'd been pissed. She'd wanted her revenge.  
  
Maybe, he could save her somehow. Maybe, there was a way to change the curse and revert it to someone else. Maybe, he could change her destiny. If he could then he'd prove to her by doing so that he had changed after all.  
  
That he wasn't evil.  
  
His thoughts were broken as he heard the raw sound of glass cracking loudly.  
  
His eyes fell on the picture of his mother and aunts. It had been one of the first pictures they had ever taken together where they all had been getting along and where each had finally come to grips with the destiny that was awaiting them.  
  
Victoria had broken the glass with her emotional outburst.  
  
His eyes came up to look into hers, but she would no longer meet his eyes with her blue ones. Instead, she looked away biting her lip gingerly.  
  
She was beautiful. She was powerful.  
  
She was a walking time bomb.  
  
Wyatt wanted her.  
  
"I can't be here right now," Victoria said to the lingering silence.  
  
She had had enough of being in their strange house. She was sick and tired of pretending that everything would be okay when it would never be. Not now, and not ever in her lifetimes to come would anything be alright for her.  
  
She was screwed.  
  
It didn't matter who she loved, how powerful she was, if she did all good or all bad deeds, or how beautiful she was. She would always be cursed to die young and unhappy.  
  
She had to admit Andrew had done something to her that was ingenious. It was also something she wouldn't even wish on her worst enemies.  
  
"Hey, wait you can't go now. We made a deal, and we don't break our bargains ever. Just stay here and try to control yourself before someone gets hurt. And we'll hopefully figure something out," Paige insisted.  
  
Victoria looked at the woman in front of her and wanted to laugh.  
  
Who did she think she was kidding? There was no cure. They would never be able to create a miracle drug to save her life before it was too late. Why did they even think they should bother?  
  
She just wanted to die already.  
  
Sure, she had unfinished business here one earth, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. God, it was weird to be alive and breathing now knowing in a few hours everything would stop. She would be dead. She would take her last breath of air, she would see her last sight, and then her heart would merely stop beating.  
  
It was almost kind of funny. Especially when she thought about the mortician who would get to see her body. He would see a perfectly healthy young girl who's heart had merely stopped beating. He'd have a lot of questions on his hands. She wondered if he would panic when he knew that there was nothing at all wrong with her body. Maybe, he would just declare it as some new disease. Maybe, he'd name it after her.  
  
Hey, at least she would be getting famous out of this whole curse thing.  
  
Victoria knew deep down inside she was hysterical.  
  
Every thought that popped into her mind was making her slowly go even more into the pit of craziness that Andrew had lived in in his whole life. She couldn't really take reality anymore. It was hard enough knowing that she was going to die alone. It was another thing to realize that there would be no one left alive that had known her that would even mourn for her. She would just be another name on a gravestone. That was if they even gave her one.  
  
The only bright side to thinking about that was that at least she wouldn't have to witness it.  
  
Wyatt looked around the room to see who would comfort Victoria in her hysteria. She knew death was coming for her and he doubted she was taking it well. He found no help whatsoever.  
  
His mother was leaning against his father. Both were watching Victoria warily and his mother seemed saddened knowing that their soon to be ally would be dead. She also seemed like she was at a loss of words. Phoebe just watched Victoria trying not to cry herself as all the emotions boiling inside of Victoria weaved themselves in and out of Phoebe like a form of deadly radiation. And then there was Paige, she wasn't exactly the best touchy feely person. She had always been funny whenever someone else was emotional that was outside the family. Chris, his semi-neurotic brother, just stared blankly at Victoria.  
  
At that moment, Wyatt wondered just what could Chris possibly be thinking.  
  
For being as close as they could be at times, Wyatt had no idea who Chris was. It was as if Chris could be two people.  
  
One was the person Wyatt had grown up with, protected as baby, and had fought with over stupid toys or who had won a game of hide and seek without cheating. Then there was the other Chris who was kind of dark and secretive. That Chris came out every once in awhile. That was the stranger that was inside of Chris that Wyatt didn't like or even understand.  
  
Sometimes, Chris would just disappear inside himself. Sometimes when he looked at his own younger brother he didn't even recognize him at all.  
  
It was scary knowing someone all their life, but never really knowing them. It almost felt as if they were enemies sometimes.  
  
Wyatt shook off his worry for Chris and turned his attention to the real problem of the moment. Victoria. What could he do to save her?  
  
He knew that he was the only one who could possibly save Victoria. He had put her in this situation and he sure as hell was going to find a way out of it for her. Whether it was the last thing he did for her or not.  
  
It was then after he had made his final resolution that he stopped leaning against the doorframe to the sitting room. He slowly passed through the crowd of his family on his way to her.  
  
He was the only one not still rooted to their place on the floor not knowing how to really handle the situation. He didn't know exactly what she would do to him for coming anywhere near her. Probably blow him to kingdom come, but he was going to try and resolve this lifelong battle of wills.  
  
"Wyatt?" Chris asked as he walked past him.  
  
For once, Chris wasn't silent and reserved inside the pit of his soul. He was worried and he sure didn't want Wyatt to get anywhere near Victoria. Especially, since the deal didn't seem to be very effective between them. Since, of course, they didn't really know how they could save her life let alone stop the curse.  
  
Wyatt ignored Chris as he walked past him and went straight to her. She looked at him uneasily the whole time. He could almost see all the emotions going through her as she backed away from him. Anger, fear, revulsion maybe and even her decision to give up passed over her face as she moved away from him. He was like a freight train that was coming straight towards her telling her that her time was basically almost up and she should be ready for certain death.  
  
Not realizing it, he had his raised his hand slowly out towards her like a person trying to let an abandoned scared wild animal know that they would do them no harm. He wanted to touch her shoulder to calm her down and let her know she wasn't completely alone in all of this. That he was still going to try his hardest to figure something out.  
  
He already had figured something out a bit.  
  
He had realized that she was cursed to die and that was the destiny logged into the book of life for her. However, he remembered a time his mother had told him about a spell that had went awry that had given Phoebe someone else's karma.  
  
Perhaps, he could write a spell like that one. Reword it, of course, but in the end change it so that her curse would fall off her shoulders and lay on his.  
  
Of course, that probably meant certain death for him, but it was the only plan he had figured out so far . His family would be against it. But, of course, it wasn't his family that had destroyed Victoria's life. He had done it to her in his past life and he was going to change it in this life and the next.  
  
His mother had brought him up by teaching him chivalry towards life and women. She had taught him to take the blame and fix his own problems the best way that he could that wouldn't hurt others. She had taught him to be a better person then most of the people he had ever met in his life.  
  
Because of that he was willing to risk his life to right his wrong.  
  
Wyatt came out of his thoughts to see her taking another step away from him. He didn't blame her. He would have done the same thing.  
  
He let his offered hand drop as he stopped a few feet from her. Gazing into her eyes, he saw a fragile quality in them that he had not seen before. The look only made him want to stick with his plan more and more.  
  
I will save you, he promised her quietly.  
  
"Look for what it's worth I am sorry," Wyatt told her, breaking the silence that had formed around them.  
  
Piper stood beside Leo and pressed his hand. She was so proud of her son in that moment. He had overcome everything he knew to try to right his wrong. He was stronger then she would have ever hoped he would be.  
  
"That does nothing to comfort me." Victoria told Wyatt.  
  
She broke the spell enrapturing the room. She tried not to meet his eyes, but it was a hard thing to do.  
  
He was so intense. She could have felt his presence from miles away. She was surprised she had never felt it before. It was so powerful. It wasn't even his powers that gave him such a presence in the room it was the way he carried himself, and valued himself. It was the way he took on his responsibility over her cursed life and soon to come death, and try to repair it.  
  
He wasn't the same man she had met in her last life. He wasn't the insane cripple of a human being that Andrew had been. Whatever he had done in his other lifetimes really seemed to have fixed him. He was sane and he was so perfect almost in so many ways.  
  
He was perfect. He was like a prince in the fairy stories that she'd heard growing up that her mother would tell her at bedtime. Too bad he hadn't been like this when she had met him in her last lifetime. There might have been more to them then her trying to keep her sanity, and her life in this lifetime.  
  
Funny, how life was. The minute you find someone that would be good for you they are your very demise. She wondered if the angels of destiny were sick and twisted in the humor department or if they just went with the flow.  
  
"I know and I'm sorry for that too. You probably won't believe this, but I'm going to do everything in my power to save you. You hear me? Everything. I won't rest till I know you're safe from...me." Wyatt said almost in hesitation.  
  
It was still too much for him to think about the fact that he had been evil in his last life. Let alone that he had enjoyed every moment of it.  
  
Deep down inside, he knew that he would have been evil in this lifetime too if it hadn't been for his mother always influencing him into helping others and himself. Without her, he would have succumbed to evil.  
  
For a moment, he wondered how his life would have changed if he had decided to be evil.  
  
What the world would be like even.  
  
Victoria looked at Wyatt. He was saying everything that she wanted to hear, but she wasn't satisfied. It was too perfect. She didn't believe it would be that way for long. He was Mr. Wonderful and she didn't know how to handle it.  
  
She wanted out of the house. She wanted to be far away from them. She wanted to be at home dancing at her wedding reception and then leaving the next morning for her own honeymoon.  
  
She wanted to have the house with the white picket fence that her father had bought for Mark and her as a wedding present. She wanted to be the same person that she had been the moment she had woken up that morning.  
  
She wanted it all.  
  
The life she had had and the love she would never be able to have from the dead man that was her husband.  
  
"I'm sorry for your fiancé. He was lucky to have you."  
  
Victoria laughed bitterly and shook her head wondering if he could read her thoughts as well as her heart, " Now is not the time to start hitting on me or even start giving me your condolences. I wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you."  
  
How could he just stand there so calm and tell her Mark had been lucky? He didn't know her at all and yet he was acting like he did. How could he just stand there as if nothing in the world had been destroyed that day and offer her his condolences? Condolences that wouldn't have to be given to her if he hadn't cursed her in their last lifetime together.  
  
Her anger dissipated at his next words. His words struck a chord in her that had never been awakened before and confusion spread through her body. She was waiting for him to say 'just kidding' or 'see you next life' , but instead he said the thing she least expected from him.  
  
"I will save you, Victoria. I owe you more then that as it is, but what you want I can't undo." he'd said. He'd looked back at his family for a beat, willing them to understand, and then he looked straight into her eyes making her realize how serious he really was about it. "Even if I have to exchange my life with yours." 


	30. For The Life Of Me

To Manda and Stony Angel: Yes, I know. Chris needs a little more story action. Of course, it will be a chapter or two before he gets a lot of time. Of course, that's around when the action will really be coming in.

Manda, here is some more dialogue for you. There should be a lot more dialogue coming in the next chapter or two also since I have basically went over the emotions for everyone.

Stony Angel, you're right about your theory of her going with Wyatt. Of course, it is a bit of a tough situation for her to just take the leap.

Thanks for all the reviews. Keep them coming. ================================================================

"I will save you, Victoria. I owe you more then that as it is ,but what you want I can't undo." he'd said. He'd looked back at his family for a beat, willing them to understand, and then he looked straight into her eyes making her realize how serious he really was about it. "Even if I have to exchange my life with yours."  
  
Victoria looked straight at him. She was in a state of shock at what he had just said. He was really saying it. She thought she had gone insane for a second. She almost felt like she had stepped into an episode of Twilight Zone. That was until everyone started crying out in disagreement of what he had just offered her.  
  
"Wyatt, no. We'll find a way around it," Leo quickly broke in shaking his head and taking a few steps toward her son.  
  
"No, Wyatt. There will be no bargaining with either of your lives." Piper added, crossing her arms.  
  
"Wyatt, that's insane," Paige said in total disbelief that her nephew had offered such a thing up like it made no difference to the rest of the world whether he lived, or died.  
  
"Wyatt, you can't do that. Not only would you be losing your life, but you would be changing destiny." Phoebe warned.  
  
Victoria looked at his sleek outstretched hand. Then, up into his intense truthful blue eyes. Then, her gaze searched his distressed family. They all cared about him. They wanted to save her but not at the risk of Wyatt's life. They wouldn't let him go so easily.  
  
His family still needed him here. They weren't going to give him up without a fight. He was still wanted, needed, and loved. She didn't have that anymore. It made it easier for her to die that way. Her family, friends, and fiancé were dead. She had nothing left to tie her down on earth. Somehow Andrew's curse had let her off easy. Surprising.  
  
"You're too honorable for your own good," she whispered. Barely believing what she was saying. "I can't accept what you've offered."  
  
"But this is all my fault." he cried.  
  
"Maybe." she said. She didn't look at him. If she did she knew she would throw herself at him and make him exchange lives. She was trying to be as honorable as him. Funny, how hard that could be. Funny, how after all she had tried to do that day she was trying to save him too. If she lived through this she seriously would considered seeing a shrink.  
  
"I owe you alright. Let me save you," he tried. Then he softly repeated, "I owe you."  
  
"Nothing," she finished for him in a firm voice.  
  
"It doesn't matter if you agree it's my decision," Wyatt said, annoyed at her sudden change. How could she be willing to throw her life away?  
  
"Wyatt," Chris pleaded form the corner. "She's letting you go. Don't argue with it."  
  
"Chris, I cursed her. She deserves a chance. Besides, she's powerful. If I give her my life then everything would be balanced. Don't you see?" Wyatt asked pleading with Chris. His eyes intensely blue at the moment, but Chris merely shook his head at him as if he were crazy.  
  
"No way, Wyatt. You didn't do this to her your past life did," Chris told him shaking his head at his brother. "You don't owe her anything."  
  
"Chris is right. You will not give her your life, young man!" Piper forbid.  
  
"Shut up. Everyone, just shut up!" Victoria screamed.  
  
They did and they all looked at her as if she were going insane. She felt as if she probably were as she looked at them.  
  
She would die. She accepted it. Wyatt would not give his life for hers. That wasn't how she planned it to go down.  
  
"I am no angel." she started. Realizing she didn't know where she was going yet with her speech. She looked around the room. Her gaze ending on Wyatt's as their eyes met. He was the only one she had to sell on the idea of not exchanging lives.  
  
"Well, I could of told you that," Paige said softly.  
  
She shook her head, "I will not accept your life. Do you hear me? Why do you think I could accept that?" she asked.  
  
Wyatt opened his mouth to speak. He didn't know what to say. He was just waiting to hear the importance of what was coming from her.  
  
"Life is important. Don't be such a fool by throwing it away just for me." she spit out at him. "You don' t even realize what you are giving up! You don't even realize how good you have it."  
  
"But this is what you wanted. You wanted me dead. This way we'll both be equal. A life for a life." he tried, his mind losing his whole idea as he watched her.  
  
Victoria looked down and sighed. Wyatt would give anything to know what she was thinking. She looked back up. Barely even seeing him as she brought your head up to look in front of her. Then, she laughed bitterly.  
  
She was the only one in the room it seemed. Everyone's attention was on her and she was the star in the spotlight. If only she wouldn't be so stubborn and she would accept what he had offered to her.  
  
Her blue eyes looked hazel in the dark room as shadows passed over her face. She looked at Wyatt. It seemed as if she were looking through him to some place he couldn't see. Wherever it was it was giving her the strength to say what needed to be said. When she spoke her words filtered through the thick air in a pivotal moment.  
  
"Don't you get it? Haven't you realized it by now?" she whispered.  
  
When no one answered she looked away from all of them. "This...this was my suicide mission. "


	31. The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

Her blue eyes looked hazel in the dark room as shadows passed over her face. She looked at Wyatt. It seemed as if she were looking through him to some place he couldn't see. Wherever it was it was giving her the strength to say what needed to be said. When she spoke her words filtered through the thick air in a pivotal moment.  
  
"Don't you get it? Haven't you realized it by now?" she whispered.  
  
When no one answered her she looked away from all of them. "This...this was my suicide mission. "  
  
Everyone was quiet. None of them were ready for that. What she was saying made sense somehow but it was still so hard for them to believe. Especially, after all the immense powers that she had showed them while trying to defeat Wyatt. Now, after everything, she was defeated. She didn't care anymore for what she had come here to do. It was crazy to think about being true.  
  
Paige, Piper, and Phoebe exchanged looks. Paige's was more a what in the hell just happened to the girl we've been fighting look, Piper's was more a thank god she's not going to take my son look that extended to a wow, and then Phoebe's was majorly surprised and saddened.  
  
"I have nothing," she whispered and then she disappeared completely from the room.  
  
She was gone instantly. They all looked at each other in surprise. It was almost like it had never happened. Like she had never existed. Wyatt quickly stepped to the place in the room where she had been standing and searched for her. He didn't find her though. She was no where to be found.  
  
"Great. I don't know if we should help her or just let her be," Paige said.  
  
"When have we ever," Piper asked, sharing a look with her younger sister.  
  
"We have to help her, Paige. She's an innocent." Phoebe responded.  
  
"Phoebe's right." Leo said. "You have to help her. She's your charge."  
  
"Easy for you to say," Piper replied.  
  
"Yeah, she didn't attack you." Chris said softly. It wasn't at all as angry as he had been towards the situation before. "Try to kill you, heal you, and then reject your offer of giving your life for hers."  
  
"How can we help her?" Wyatt asked, defeated.  
  
"Well, you cursed her in your last life right? Maybe you can write a spell to defeat it now. You're more powerful in this life so maybe it'll work." Paige tried, giving her nephew a small hopeful smile.  
  
"No, it won't. It's had years to gather power. It sounds like it had a snowball effect since he cast it, too. I mean look what it did to her family, friends, and fiancé. It obliterated them." Leo told her.  
  
"Okay, you suggest something then," Piper said in annoyance.  
  
"Maybe, Wyatt you could go back to your past life again and relive how you killed her. See if you had any talismans that helped you." Leo said.  
  
"Kinda like the necklace I had that saved me from dying," Phoebe said.  
  
"Yes, but we're really looking for a miracle there." Piper remarked.  
  
"What else is there to do?" Paige asked.  
  
"Well, it's all been done before. It's hard to start all over again," Phoebe said, frowning.  
  
"What?" Paige asked.  
  
"Well, the Book of Shadows has nothing in it to help a cursed person. So we're flat out of luck there which means, being the domino effect and all, the internet won't help either. So, she's screwed on the magical reference part." Phoebe told Paige.  
  
"Can't we write a spell? We are powerful you know?" Paige tried.  
  
"Yeah, so is Wyatt. So probably was Wyatt in his past lifetime Not even he can write a spell effective enough for her to survive." Piper informed her.  
  
"Great. So what? She's screwed?' Paige asked, frowning.  
  
"Maybe not. I can go see if the Elders have anything about Wyatt's past life that they can go off of. Maybe, that will help." Leo tried.  
  
"Good. Go quickly." Phoebe ordered, waving her hands in a hurried motion towards him.  
  
Leo orbed out with a small glance to his wife. Piper watched Leo's orbs depart and then sighed. Now, it was time to get their butts back in gear and try to save their innocent. Hopefully, it was job that they could do. Otherwise, she didn't know how Wyatt would handle it. He'd never lost an innocent before so it was hard to know what he would do now if that happened with Victoria.  
  
"Great going," Paige said to Wyatt.  
  
"Hey, no picking on my son." Piper said going over to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders comfortingly.  
  
"She's right, mom. I knew what I was doing when I cursed her in my past life. Now she has to pay for it," Wyatt said.  
  
"Sweetie, we'll fix this," Piper told him hugging him closer.  
  
"Yeah, don't beat yourself up." Phoebe added.  
  
"We should start now. Who knows how long it'll take to find out what I used to help me magically in my past life," Wyatt said, ready to go into battle.  
  
"As long as you're ready for this again." Piper said.  
  
Wyatt nodded. His decision was final. He was ready to find out how to save her. He wouldn't let her down in this lifetime. He didn't care what she said to get him to change his mind. He would find a way to save her. If he didn't he would exchange their lives to break the curse.  
  
Paige stood anxiously nearby hopping from foot to foot, "I know it's all been done before, but I'm still gonna check the Book of Shadows. Maybe, there's something that was looked over or maybe there's something that can be changed to save her."  
  
As soon as she said what she was planning on doing, Paige quickly left the room. Phoebe and Chris now were the only ones left. The room was a mess. The remnants of what had happened a few minutes before and throughout the whole day still lingered in their minds as they surveyed the room quietly. Phoebe went to Chris and linked arms with his in an attempt to comfort him. Of any of them, she had no idea what he was thinking or feeling about the whole situation..  
  
"Where do you think she is right now?" he asked quietly.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe... Well, if I were her I would be at my wedding." Phoebe told him. "But since that didn't happen.."  
  
"Phoebe, you're a genius!" Chris cried, he quickly detached himself from her arm and grabbed a nearby red blanket hanging from the side of the couch.  
  
"What? Hey, wait a second. What are you getting at?" she asked.  
  
"You stay here in case anything happens. I'm going to go after her." he told her.  
  
"Hold on. Do I sense a change of feelings?" she asked, her eyes twinkling.  
  
"Yeah, well. I dunno. I just.." he kicked at a piece of stained glass looking up at her with his big forest green eyes earnestly .  
  
"You dunno?" she asked, copying his statement as she raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Aunt Phoebe," he cried, not wanting to be the ant underneath the magnifying glass anymore.  
  
"I get it. I get it. I'm starting to see your type now. Red hair, blue eyes, about 5'6, mysterious and deeply traumatic."  
  
"Phoebe!" he cried.  
  
"We'll what are you waiting for. Go and get her already." she told him laughing.  
  
"She..she needs someone to watch out for her. I'm a guardian angel so I'll do it," he tried to reason with her.  
  
"Yeah, and she's hot, too, right?"  
  
He gave her an annoyed look.  
  
"Ah, my nephew's growing up right before my eyes. Oh, I'm getting to see your very first crush on an innocent. Wow, it's just like old times"  
  
"Not cool. Not cool at all, Aunt Phoebe," he answered.  
  
She waved her hands at him to go, "Go then. It'll be easier to find her when we figure this all out if you're with her." She gave him a wink. "I'll even tell everyone that I came up with the idea so your secret doesn't come out so quickly."  
  
"Thanks. Wait, are you sure you can keep it? " he asked and started to orb away without her answer but stopped. "Make sure mom's okay."  
  
"I will. Don't worry about anything," Phoebe reassured him.  
  
Chris orbed away leaving her in the sitting room alone. She looked around her and saw the chaos of the room, and decided that while everyone else did what they were doing she would try to clean up the chaotic mess. 


	32. Here You Me

Thanks for all the reviews. Keep them coming.. So, I saw a lot of them wanting the next chapter so I thought I would just be the greatest writer in the world and give it to you. Tell me what you think.. Who do you think she should be with? ===================================================================== Chris orbed to her. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't expect her really to be expecting him. He hadn't been there the whole time she had been there and it was basically because he had hated her for trying to kill his family. Surprisingly though, after what she had said and how she had left them he didn't really hate her anymore. Instead, there was another emotion that had taken over that he needed to asses sooner or later.  
  
Now all he felt he needed to do was find and make sure she was okay.  
  
Victoria was where Phoebe had guessed she would be. She was sitting there on the veranda steps. Her reddish- brown hair almost looked a dark red in the light and her ethereal features seemed to glow a bit like an angels as he looked at her.  
  
The smell of roses wafted around him as he made his way to her. Her bouquet was laying in her hands and she was wrapping the yellow police line caution tape that she had found over the veranda around it.  
  
He looked at the yard. It was beautifully decorated in roses and Christmas lights that lit the scene. The only thing off about the place was the endless amounts of police tape everywhere.  
  
He walked up to her on the Christmas tree lights lit aisle way and only when he was standing right over her did she look up at him.  
  
"I knew you'd come here after me," she told him quietly.  
  
"Ditto," he replied.  
  
There was almost something surrealistic about the place around them. It had been a beautiful place to be married in, but now it was a place shielded with death. He guessed if there were anywhere she should die it might as well be in the place she'd been the happiest. Even if that happiness had only lasted a few brief moments in time.  
  
"You'd think I'd be grieving," she said.  
  
"Yeah, but your way of grieving is becoming a homicidal maniac," he reminded.  
  
"I didn't mean for any of this stuff to happen."  
  
"Like blowing up my house or trying to brutally murder my family?"  
  
"For one the door wasn't open, and two that was a mere misunderstanding. But yeah, stuff like that," she answered.  
  
"Well, it's okay I guess. As long as you're over trying to kill my big brother." Chris told her.  
  
"Oh, yeah. So over that," she smiled over at him.  
  
"Good."  
  
It was all he could say. She was hot. He'd never seen someone look so much like an angel with her ethereal beauty, but act so much like the devils advocate. He didn't know how he'd really fallen for her. Hell, he didn't even know when. One minute he'd wanted to kill her off and the next he was there with her at her place of rest.  
  
It was creepy here. It almost felt like he was consorting with the dead.  
  
"The whole revenge thing. I can see how it makes for good vengeance. It's not worth it at the end of the day though. Especially, when you're dying and you have limited time to hold onto life as you know it," she told him.  
  
"Tell the truth. Wyatt kicked your ass," he joked.  
  
"Uh, no. But I did get a few bruises I didn't need," she laughed.  
  
It was weird how easily he could get along with her. It was as if he were already used to her and they had been together forever. It was a lot like trying on old clothes that you had just found all over again. You fit into them and you still loved them.  
  
He wondered if it was the past life that made him get along with her so easily.  
  
"As long as we've got that all out of the way," he said.  
  
"Chris, why are you here? "she asked, bringing him back to the reality of things. The reality that they were only mere strangers to one another. The reality that she was dying.  
  
"I guess I can relate," he said softly looking into her violet-blue eyes.  
  
"So you were a bride once, too? That explains a lot," she joked.  
  
"Hey, not cool. Not cool at all."  
  
"Fine, then. Real answer, please," she ordered.  
  
"I still don't really trust you completely. But I do want to protect you. You came to us for a reason. A big reason. I would have done the same thing if I were you."  
  
"Is that your off-handed way of saying we have a clean slate?" she asked.  
  
"Kind of. Yeah."  
  
"Is that also your way of saying you think I'm hot?"  
  
"Whoa, lady. "he waited a moment. "No comment. So how'd you meet him?"  
  
"Look, Chris. You don't have to stay here and baby-sit me or make small talk even." she said getting up and looking down at him.  
  
"I wanted to come here. Give me a chance why don't you," he cried, getting up and standing with her.  
  
She stared at him for a moment. Then looked out onto the empty audience of chairs, "I guess it was fate. We both went on a trip to New York at the same time. There was a typo on the computer and we both ended up assigned to the same seat. We'd been together ever since."  
  
"So it was love at first sight?" he asked.  
  
"I'm not sure about that. I've only had that once before and that was in another life," she told him softly.  
  
"What was it then?"  
  
"He was everything I wasn't that I wanted to be. Opposites attract," she laughed, dryly.  
  
"Sorry about all this."  
  
"Don't be. It wasn't meant to be. Nothing for me was," she responded, shaking her head. She started to pry the pink rose petals their stems of her bouquet as he watched her.  
  
"Now that's a lie. If it were true you would have never been born," he replied.  
  
"No, I had to be born to be cursed. Remember, Chris?"  
  
"Do you realize how exasperating you can be?' he asked, cockily.  
  
"I've been told that on occasion."  
  
Chris rolled his eyes at her and she threw her broken rose petals at him in return.  
  
"Hey, watch it." he cried, beating the pink petals away as if they were an evil demon attacking.  
  
"Don't you want to know who I had love at first sight with?"  
  
"Should I?" he asked, warily.  
  
She looked at him and then grabbed his face in her hands before he could even react. Before he knew it, her lips were pressing his smoothly. As they kissed his past life miraculously started flashing through his mind.  
  
It was like seeing her all over again.  
  
He saw her for the first time as a child. She was shy and golden as she leaned forward to him and kissed him on the cheek.  
  
Then, it was years later. He saw her among the costumed dancers. She was dressed all in black. She stood out of the crowd like a sore thumb. Knowing as he saw her, that he loved her.  
  
He saw her again as she unveiled herself to him and kissed him inside an English garden. Then she was running through the maze wanting him to come after her like a game.  
  
Then, he saw her in a bath of golden sunlight reflected water as she splashed him and floated away like an angel floating in the sky.  
  
He felt the happiness consuming his body as he felt their very first kiss radiate through him.  
  
Then, the darkness descended through him as the harsh memories of past Wyatt came into his mind. He saw Wyatt following her around and then he saw him leaving her home after he had killed her family. He had tipped his hat to him and he had been afraid to find out what Wyatt had done to put him in such a good mood. When he had found her she had been crying hysterically at what damage Wyatt had done to her family.  
  
He had brutally killed each and every one of them.  
  
His arms folded over her collapsed as he saw her trying to get to him, but past Wyatt held her back. He wondered why she was so hysterical for a moment then he realized why. He was bleeding to death. He was dying and his own brother had done it.  
  
His last thoughts had been of her.  
  
The kiss that Victoria and he had shared ended, along with the flashes. As their lips left each others he took a gasp of air into his lungs. It felt like the first breath ever.  
  
"We were... I was."  
  
"Yes," she whispered to him, sadly.  
  
"Wow, talk about a kiss."  
  
Victoria laughed and leaned into him, "You haven't seen nothing yet." 


	33. Hands Of Death

Wyatt looked at the all familiar spell. Then, at his mother who gave him a half smile to encourage him. Taking a deep breath, he read it aloud. "Remove the chains of time and space, and make my spirit soar."  
  
This was it. This was the last chance he'd get. He hoped he could find something out this time that would make it easy to save her.  
  
"Let these mortal arms embrace."  
  
He didn't know what to expect. He didn't know exactly what there was left in the other life for him to embrace. He'd murdered her in the end. That was all he had left to witness. He had to find out how he had done it. He had to see if he'd had any help.  
  
"The life that haunts before," he whispered.  
  
Instantly, he was taken away to his other life. It was like a roller coaster ride this time. Things were happening and passing quickly around him as he found himself in the dark endless night of his last life. Something big had happened. This time everything was passing so much faster before his eyes.  
  
Valerie started forward in shock of what had just happened in front of her. She needed to do something to save William, but she knew not what she could even do.  
  
She started forward to do something. To help somehow. But Andrew cut her off and crossed the distance between them. He pushed her against the alleys wall. There he smiled and looked over her body. He touched her golden hair softly breaking its hold from the headdress and letting the headdress fall to the ground. Then he touched her pale face, and his hand traveled lower where it slowly found her throat.  
  
He squeezed it hard choking her. She gasped in shock trying to grab his hand away. He let go and let her breath again. Then he kissed her.  
  
The kiss was just as deadly. She'd felt what he said. The power going through their bodies and joining. It was almost perfect except once it met it crisscrossed out of them creating disaster. The lightning coming from them struck a tree a few feet away and it crashed into roof of the manor.  
  
She jumped at the crash and he laughed as if it were the greatest thing ever in the world.  
  
Time moved faster again for some reason and he found himself speaking with her.  
  
"You know I don't need you alive to have your powers." he reminded her, letting his warm breath wander over her neck. She twisted in his grasp but he barely paid attention to it all.  
  
They'd been through so much. He'd put her through hell and back showing her he wouldn't give up on her too her easily. Yet her insistence on not being evil with him was growing wary.  
  
He'd had enough already.  
  
He'd miss her, but within time he'd forget about her. The bitch. All she needed to do was be with him. Was it that hard?  
  
"I know I'm not stupid," she replied, harshly.  
  
He brushed his hand over her cheek lightly. So beautiful, so stubborn. Together they would have possessed enough power to destroy the world if they had wished.  
  
Why wouldn't she see they were meant to be together? Together they fit perfectly into the other. They were the opposites of everything in the world that fit so well together. They were perfect with each other. Why did she have to resist that?  
  
What was with her obsession with being so good? What good did it do her? Nothing. Instead, her beliefs had separated them from each other, they had killed her family, and they had really, really pissed him off.  
  
"Just reminding you. I will miss this," he said. "But I will enjoy every moment of your death."  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
Her face. The very expression of surprise over him giving up on their tragic romance was enough for a perfect picture etched in time. Her expression changed to denial over what he had just said to her as her violet-blue eyes darkened to a navy blue.  
  
He'd really surprised her.  
  
He'd bet a thousand dollars that she had never expected him to really kill her.  
  
Of course, some vendettas had to end. Her life had to end. She wouldn't be with him so he would take her powers for his own and end her life.  
  
"No," she whispered, shaking in his grip.  
  
Must've hit a nerve, he thought wryly. Then, he gave her a simple grin of satisfaction. Now, after everything he'd done to her, she was finally taking him seriously.  
  
"I curse you for this lifetime and the next. May you never know true happiness." he said. Then he added as if it were an afterthought. "You will die young until the day you love me."  
  
She swallowed hard. The whole motion of it ran through his body from the one hand he had wrapped around her pale throat.  
  
Then, she laughed and laughed and laughed as if he were telling her the funniest thing she'd ever heard in her life.  
  
He didn't like her being amused. Not one bit. It struck a chord in him that wasn't willing to deal with her holier than thou crap anymore.  
  
"Oh, and Valerie," he said, reaching toward her and lying his hand on her breast. "This is mine," he told her.  
  
In that brief moment, he felt the power drawing itself out of her. He was squeezing it out as well as squeezing her heart like a person trying to squeeze an orange to make orange juice. Her heart palpated in his steady hand. It was trying hard to keep her alive, but he knew there wasn't a chance for her to live.  
  
His gaze remained on her face steadily.  
  
He looked over her features. He wanted to see her last breath, her last expression, and even her last tear.  
  
His eyes swept over her steely blue gaze as her eyes and forehead wrinkled under the pressure of death. A tear trickled down her pale skin from her eye. It ran down her upturned button nose and over her full rosy lips. Her lips gasped in for air as if it were able to help her stay alive.  
  
He knew what he wanted then. He wanted a dying kiss. He wanted to feel her last breath escape her lips and enter his mouth as she gave up the fight to live.  
  
So he dipped his head down towards hers. His mouth took a hold of hers. Capturing it like he'd captured her heart.  
  
He barely felt her hand beating... no more like tapping against his chest trying to stop him.  
  
It almost felt like a trapped butterfly trying to flap its wings hard enough to get away from its captor.  
  
He instinctively took a hold of her small hand and felt her hand and her fingers as they moved through his.  
  
It was the last motion she ever did. It was then that he felt her last breath. It was like a ghost flying away into the wind. Her protests died. Her heart stopped. Her hand in his was now growing cold and rigid.  
  
He slowly drew away from her.  
  
He took her other hand that was wrapped around the hand he'd been using to stop her heart. He gave it a small kiss and then placed it lightly in her lap. Her dark golden blond hair flowed around her body like the suns dying rays, her luminous blue eyes gazed at him glassily in horror, and her body leaned against the alley wall crumpled.  
  
He laughed as he looked at her. Giving her a quick kiss, he took her corpse up into his hands and danced with her.  
  
Then, he let her body drop back onto the ground in a heap of death.  
  
"Why thank you, Valerie. For making it so easy."  
  
Then, he turned back to his poor dead brother William lying on the ground a few feet away from her. He was vaguely amused that both their hands were extended almost reaching for the others in their heaps on the ground. You will never have her, he promised his dead brother as he kneeled down beside him.  
  
He took off his large quartz crystal ring that gleamed eerily in the moonlight. He smiled at it, and then he used William's shirt to wipe it off.  
  
Somehow a little bit of Valerie's blood had ended up speckled over its surface. He gave it a quick delightful kiss and then admired it in the moonlight.  
  
It had been as powerful as the gypsy had said it was. It had killed Valerie and cursed her forever. One day he would have to thank the gypsy if he had survived the fight that Andrew had went through to get the ring. He relished in the thought that he was powerful enough to curse another being to eternal damnation.  
  
Now, he'd never grow old. He would stay young forever.  
  
He had the ring to thank for that. 


	34. The Prophecy

Alrightie.. Thank you for all your reviews. Keep them a coming. Really, that should be my theme song. Alright, I don't own Charmed or Lord of the Rings. I just had a weird idea and added a bit of humor to my story. As always, enjoy. And tell me what you think.  
  
==============================================  
  
Wyatt woke up with a burst. Happy for once that he had found answers that could help. Otherwise, he was still a bit disturbed by what he had just witnessed, but he wasn't going to linger on it when he had the answer that they needed.  
  
"I found a way to save her," he announced to everyone proudly.  
  
"Okay, spill." Paige responded from where she was sitting on the red chair looking through the Book of Shadows. She closed the book happily since she wasn't really getting anywhere with it anyways.  
  
"I had a ring. A quartz crystal ring that quadrupled my power," Wyatt informed them. He smiled proudly and got to his feet in victory. Dorkily, he wanted someone to give him a high five for the information he had just found out. Where was Chris at when he really needed him?  
  
"Wow, can we say Lord of the Rings," Phoebe asked, with a brief laugh.  
  
"So, there's a ring. Where is it now?" Piper asked.  
  
"I don't really know," Wyatt answered slowly coming back down to earth. He hadn't really thought of that one. He'd just been so happy to finally have a way out for Victoria that didn't include exchanging lives.  
  
"Great we're back to the beginning again," Paige said, frowning.  
  
"Hey, I just found out something very important here. I can't help it if I don't know everything," Wyatt replied, annoyed.  
  
"It's okay, Wyatt. You did good. We at least have something to go off of now," Leo told him comfortingly.  
  
"Thanks, dad," he replied, giving him a warm smile.  
  
"Alright, let's get Chris and Victoria back here before it's too late." Piper ordered. "Chris!"  
  
Blue and white lights sparkled beside her a moment later. Inside of them Chris appeared looking at his mother expectantly. "What'd I miss?"  
  
"Oh, he's glowing," Phoebe cried, smiling at her little nephew.  
  
He gave her a wry look and then looked back at his family. Paige had noticed what was said, but Piper seemed a bit confused by it. Somehow Phoebe had actually kind of kept a secret. If they lived through this he would have to give her an award for it.  
  
"Well," Piper began to tell him. "Wyatt found something out in his last trip to the past. He had a ring that helped give him power that he used to kill Victoria and also to curse her for every lifetime she lived in. So, if we find the ring we can save Victoria from her untimely demise."  
  
"Cool. Where's the ring?" Chris asked, leaning against the stand for the Book of Shadows.  
  
"That's the problem," Paige said, wryly.  
  
"What?" he asked, searching each of their faces. "You can't find the ring, can you?"  
  
"Well, no." Phoebe told him.  
  
"Wonderful. So we really are back to square one. Doesn't anyone realize she has about an hour and a half till she dies?" Chris asked.  
  
Chris couldn't believe this. They had come so far. They knew what past Wyatt had used to kill Victoria in their past life together, but now they were stuck all over again. He couldn't believe how much time was passing without any real answers to go off of. It was then that an idea struck him.  
  
"Wyatt, the ring.. Would you say you were obsessed with it in a crazy I would marry you if you were human kind of way?" Chris asked, hopefully.  
  
"Uh, yeah. I guess. Why?"  
  
"Alright. Then, I may have an idea of where it would be."  
  
"Okay, then. Where would it be Chris?" Phoebe asked, unsure.  
  
"You guys aren't going to like this," he told them, folding his arms over his chest.  
  
"Let us be the judge of that. In the meantime, talk already," Piper ordered.  
  
"If he was obsessed with the ring like I think he was then...The ring is still on his body." he ended in a rush of words.  
  
"What?" Phoebe asked in surprise.  
  
"Whoa, wait a second on his body?" Piper asked.  
  
"Eww," Paige said making a face.  
  
He knew it. They didn't like what he had had to say one bit. He wouldn't have either if her were them and had to go out at night and scout for the ring in a graveyard. He was happy he could just go back with Victoria and be with her instead of with them while they dug up Wyatt's past life's body. Even the thought of it was pretty disgusting.  
  
"Wow, what a suggestion," Phoebe said quietly.  
  
"I bet he's right. It's the only thing that makes sense right now," Wyatt told his parents.  
  
"Great a trip to the graveyard. How nice," Piper said, making a disgusted face.  
  
"And so the journey begins to the cemetery of Mourdoor. A chosen group called the The Charmed Ones are to follow the paths used before in earlier years to find the ring of power. A Ring that was made in the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom. The Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master Ring, to control all others. And into this Ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. "One Ring to rule them all." One by one, the Free Lands of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring. But there were some who resisted. A Last Alliance of Men and Elves marched against the armies of Mordor and on the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle Earth. Victory was near. But the power of the Ring could not be undone. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend, legend became myth, and for two and half thousand years the Ring passed out of all knowledge. Until when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer. The Ring came to the creature of evil past life Wyatt, who took it deep into the place named San Francisco. And there, it consumed him. Until his untimely death," Paige recited the lines to Lord of the Rings adding in Wyatt's story cryptically amongst the story of the evil ring of power.  
  
In the end each of them looked at her like she was crazy. But, really, she was only an avid movie buff on the trilogy of Lord of the Rings. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled, "Like you weren't thinking the same thing." . 


	35. Gravedigger

I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did.  
  
=================================================  
  
It was unbelievably cold outside that night.  
  
Piper, Phoebe, and Paige with shovels in their hands were slowly digging up Wyatt's past life's grave. Wyatt shone the flashlight down on them the whole time as he watched to make sure that no one came to see what was going on in the cemetery.  
  
If they did they would get a surprise. They would see three very muddy women slowly digging up a century old grave. They would also see that they weren't doing it just for the hell of it, but they would see the determination to do it in each of their beautiful faces as they kept digging up more mud and dirt.  
  
Wyatt stood solemnly staring at them as they dug. It was too weird to be standing right beside his old grave. It was insane to think that he had lived already once before. He wondered if he had evolved as much as his family kept telling him that he had. He also hoped that Victoria would see that.  
  
"Ewww. This is so gross," Paige complained, wiping her forehead but somehow getting more dirt on herself then she had had before.  
  
"Paige, stop complaining and dig," Piper ordered.  
  
"This is so not how I planned on spending my Friday night," Phoebe told them as she shoveled up another shovel full of dirt.  
  
"Agreed," Paige said.  
  
"Oh, you guys. Suck it up. We've been through and seen worse then this. How's a little dirt and physical work really hurting this time?" Piper asked.  
  
"Oh, really. Since when did digging up corpses get added to our resume," Paige asked.  
  
"Hey, do you guys feel like you're in some scene from Night of the Living Dead or what?" Phoebe asked, laughing.  
  
"There had better not be any zombies around here," Paige warned.  
  
As she said it, they all hit their shovels into a hard surface. A thud resounded around them as they exchanged looks. It was about time. They had finally hit the coffin.  
  
"Finally! I didn't think I could take anymore complaining from either of you two," Piper exclaimed happily.  
  
"Guys this is so disturbing on so many levels," Phoebe said, looking down at the dark redwood coffin.  
  
"Yeah, isn't it like a bad thing to dig up a person once they're buried?" Paige asked, worriedly.  
  
"Oh, no. Sweetie, that only applies to Egyptian mummies and what not. Believe me, I know. My ex one time.." Phoebe started to tell her story, but was cut off.  
  
"Can we just do this?" Piper asked, annoyed.  
  
"Fine. I'll tell you later. It's actually an interesting story," Phoebe told Paige who nodded in response.  
  
When wasn't it an interesting story when it applied to the Charmed Ones?  
  
They all knelt down to the coffin together.  
  
There they opened its lid and peeked in. A strong odor wafted out to tell them they had found a nice, juicy old corpse waiting for them.  
  
Paige quickly let go of the lid and it dropped onto the ground beside the coffin as she tried to wave away the putrid smell. Phoebe looked down at the decomposing skeleton with a disgusted look in a stance to beat off any zombie willing to come at her, and Piper just looked at it with raised eyebrows.  
  
"Just a dead guy. Okay, no biggie. I can do this," Paige said to herself aloud trying to get herself to move.  
  
"Ewww. It stinks," Phoebe whined.  
  
"Even more reason to get this over with fast," Piper told her motioning for Phoebe to get the shining ring off of the corpses index finger.  
  
"You're kidding me right?" Phoebe asked, her eyebrows drawn together. "Piper, it's a dead guy! I'm not touching it."  
  
"Well, I'm not touching it. Who knows what kind of germs I can get from him." Piper responded.  
  
"Oh, don't revert to the germ excuse," Phoebe complained.  
  
"Hey, I'm pregnant. I'm guaranteed the right to pass on this one," Piper told her with her hand on her hip.  
  
"Oh, you suck." Phoebe said, pointing at her with slitted eyes. Then she turned to Paige, "Okay, Paige. Go for it."  
  
"What? I'm not touching it," Paige cried in surprise.  
  
"Paige, come on. We don't have a lot of time. Besides, you owe me," Phoebe reminded.  
  
"How do I owe you?"  
  
"Well, the last demon. I vanquished it. Since Piper gets a get out of jail card for being pregnant, it's your turn." she said, smiling.  
  
"Eww. You! I'll get you for this," Paige said, jabbing her index finger at Phoebe.  
  
Then, she went to peak into the coffin again. The disgusting smell along with the dead guy made her want to faint, but she didn't. She couldn't get to him the easy way she wanted to so she ended up gingerly placing her foot in the coffin in between the corpses legs.  
  
Whatever you do just don't wake up, she told the corpse silently as she tried to get the ring off of his finger. It was hard to do. It was like the ring was super glued to his finger.  
  
"Eww. Eww. Dead guy. Ewww. Oh, my god. His hand! His hand!" she shrieked.  
  
In Paige's hand was the corpses decayed and bony gray hand. It looked weirdly as if she were shaking his hand as she pranced around in the small space she could in the grave shrieking hysterically at having the dead guys hand in hers.  
  
"Get the ring! Quick!" Piper ordered her.  
  
Paige did as she was ordered as the hysteria bubbled inside of her.  
  
Disgusted, she threw his hand straight back into the coffin where it bounced off of the corpses bony chest and fell into the corner of the coffin. She was happy it landed there. Otherwise, she wouldn't have picked it up and put it back in its rightful place.  
  
Instantly she climbed out of the grave and spastically rubbed the germs from the dead hand off of her and onto her clothes as she pranced around.  
  
She almost looked as if she were doing some crazy insane jittery form of a dance. Then, when she was close enough to Phoebe she rubbed off some of the germs on her hands onto her back.  
  
"Hey, watch it!" Phoebe cried, disgusted.  
  
"What's wrong, Phoebe? A little freaked out?" Paige asked, giving her an inconspicuous smile.  
  
Phoebe didn't answer. Instead, she made a creeped out face and tried to brush off the germs on her back.  
  
"Alright, let's get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps," Piper announced picking up her shovel and wiping off any excess mud that she could get off of it.  
  
"You're getting the creeps? I had to touch a dead guy!" Paige cried in annoyment.  
  
"Well, look at it this way. At least he didn't go zombie on your ass," Phoebe told her grinning.  
  
"Oh, you're so asking for it, Missy," Paige told her as she went to stand beside Wyatt. 


	36. Book Smart, Street Stupid

Alright, let's see. To the reviewers.  
  
Thank you Stony Angel for the reviews. Tis awesome. I know, I know. You favor Wyatt and Victoria. I shall try to keep that in mind.  
  
Lotamoxie: I know. Piper's pregnant so she shouldn't be doing grunt work. Of course, that was the only way to add a bit of humor to the story. So I will say she didn't really dig she just helped pushed the dirt off the coffin. You see if she was on top holding the flashlight and Wyatt was where she was you wouldn't get the same dynamic of the sisters being together. It might have been close to it but it wouldn't have been so good. But thank you for bringing your nitpicks to my attention. It's nice to know you're paying attention to detail.  
  
===================================================  
  
In their past life their names were:  
  
Chris= William  
  
Wyatt= Andrew  
  
Prue= P. Bowen  
  
Piper= P. Bexter  
  
Phoebe= P. Russel  
  
Victoria= Valerie  
  
===============================================  
  
Phoebe smiled at her oldest nephew and gave him the ring that she had swiped from Paige when Paige hadn't been looking. Paige who had been searching her pockets for the ring gave her an immensely annoyed stare, shook her head at her, and then gave a small smile to Wyatt.  
  
He had to admit more then ever as he'd watched them work together that night that they never really had grown up. He doubted they ever would. Which was cool with him because it was what made him love each one of them so much.  
  
"Here it is," Phoebe chirped as she placed it squarely in his hand. "You're lucky that some of us can keep a hold of things better then others." she said, giving him a wink.  
  
"Right, Phoebe. Wyatt, you're welcome for me having to touch a dead body in order to get it. You're also welcome for me not killing off my middle sister right here in front of you," Paige told Wyatt with a look as she rolled her eyes at Phoebe.  
  
"Thanks, Aunt Paige," he responded, rolling the ring around in his hand.  
  
The ring had a white quartz crystal stone in the very center of a dirty gold band. It didn't look all powerful. It looked like any other ring he'd ever seen on earth.  
  
He guessed looks could be deceiving.  
  
He also had to admit another thing: his mother and aunts were extremely dirty and he really wanted to stay as far from them as possible. They looked as if they had been in a mud pit wrestling. Of course, his reaction to Phoebe being so close by giving him the ring had made her realize the power she had over him.  
  
"Hey, guys how about a group hug for once?" she asked.  
  
They all realized what she meant and started towards him with evil smiles.  
  
He quickly tried to get away, but they came at him blocking his path from leaving. They all were coming at him from every side possible as he backed up.  
  
They looked like they had just dug their way out of their own graves and were ready to eat his flesh to survive. When Phoebe tried to pounce him he immediately orbed behind Paige, but when she turned to him it was too late. He was a goner and he knew it. He gave up as she grabbed him before he could orb away again.  
  
They all descended upon him like bees to honey and he was immersed in muddy family members as they gave him the group hug he so well deserved.  
  
"Score," Paige cried happily as she mashed her muddy body all over him and wiped her mud ridden hand over his face. "Well, look at it this way, Wyatt. You're getting a spa day with the girls. Consider yourself lucky."  
  
He dusted himself off the best he could annoyed. Spa day his ass.  
  
"I bet you won't have to worry about exfoliating your face for a year," Piper laughed along with her sisters as she surveyed the mess Wyatt now was in.  
  
"Can we get back to work?" he asked, but in answer they all came back to him and gave him another quick group hug that got him even more dirty then before. He gave up. They were just plain evil.  
  
When they finally let him go, and he knew that they had had their fun, he put the ring on his finger and looked at it in the moonlight. It shined almost a pale red for a moment.  
  
He waited for it to do something like start a storm or bring about the ghost of himself like what would probably happen in a movie, but nothing happened.  
  
How boring. How dull.  
  
He frowned down at the ring and rubbed off a fresh spot of mud so that it would be clean.  
  
Right now, it was the cleanest thing on his body after the muddy attack.  
  
"Well," Piper asked him waiting to see if anything was different.  
  
"It's weird. I feel like I'm indestructible with it on." he told her laughing uncomfortably.  
  
"Okay, Wyatt. This is the point in time where you start hopping around like a crazed cave man and say 'My precious. My precious'." Phoebe told him excitedly as she imitated Golem's voice precisely.  
  
"Oh, you've got to for old times sake." Paige agreed, also excited that someone had finally jumped onto her band wagon.  
  
"Way to go, you guys. That's being mature about it," Piper said, rolling her eyes with a rare smile.  
  
"Oh, come on. Like you weren't thinking the same thing." Phoebe remarked.  
  
When Piper shook her head with her eyebrows raised in amusement in response to what she'd said, Phoebe rolled her eyes and mouthed 'come on' to Wyatt. He just stared at her incredulously as the weird feeling of being indestructible passed through his being.  
  
No wonder he had gone crazy in his last life. He'd probably thought he was superman or something with the ring on.  
  
Then, a sudden chill flew through his body like a tornado rushing its nearest victim.  
  
It felt like the ground was coming up to meet him and he couldn't move to stop it. He hit the ground hard and there was an instant of complete black terror on his part. The terror eased slowly as he realized his eyes were closed and that's why it was pitch black.  
  
Idiot, he yelled at himself.  
  
He opened his blue eyes slowly and took a breath as his surroundings came into focus.  
  
"Wow, what a head rush." he whispered to himself.  
  
"We really should get back before we run out of time." he started to tell his family and then his surroundings registered in his mind.  
  
His family wasn't in the cemetery with him anymore. Hell, he wasn't in the cemetery with them anymore. Instead, he was in his own back yard. Or at least what it had looked like a century before.  
  
Valerie was laying on the ground in front of him.  
  
Her body laid in a heap as if she had just merely been dropped onto the ground by an insolent child going for a different toy because his old one wasn't interesting.  
  
Her blue eyes looked at him glassily. She was dead.  
  
Which only meant one other thing.  
  
He turned his gaze to see William lying a few feet from her. He was also dead. A puddle of blood was pouring from his body and a knife laid beside him as his eyes looked at him questioningly in death.  
  
"Oh, shit," he cried as he sprang to his feet.  
  
He wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be with his mother and his aunts in the cemetery. Something had gone really, really wrong and he was now stuck in his last life.  
  
He realized then that his past life self wasn't stupid. He'd probably realized that one day Valerie would try to save herself and the easiest way to get to her or stop her from doing just that was to place a spell on the ring to make sure that he was reborn again.  
  
"Not good. Not good," he said to himself.  
  
Then a crack of thunder came through the sky sparking him out of his thoughts. It was just in time to see the silhouettes of P. Bowen and P Baxter hovering a few feet behind him. They both looked at him with their hands on their hips and angry expressions painted over their polished faces.  
  
They were angry. They had saw what had happened and now they thought it had been him that had done it. Which technically it had been only it had been his former past life self and not the one standing before them. Of course, they didn't know that and they wouldn't believe that.  
  
He needed to get out of there quick.  
  
There was only one way out and it was the alley way.  
  
As soon as he realized that was the only way out, P. Bowen blew a flow of ice in his direction. He instinctively went down into a ducking motion as the cold ice flew above his head.  
  
That was a close one.  
  
He tried to use his powers to at least counteract theirs till he could get away. He tried to use his telekinesis to throw them a few feet away from him, but it didn't work. Oh shit, he thought.  
  
Then, he got up and before P. Baxter could use her freezing powers on him he used one of the moves Phoebe had once taught him as a child on her. Incidentally, the move sent her straight into P. Bowen and they both flew to the ground in a jumble of confusion.  
  
As soon as he saw that they were down for at least a few moments he ran as quickly as he could away from the scene.  
  
"Sorry mom!" he yelled back at them.  
  
"You okay, Wyatt?" Piper asked, watching her son.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Fine, mom." he said looking around the cemetery as if he were seeing it for the first time. "Never been better."  
  
Piper looked at her son for another moment.  
  
She didn't know what it was about him, but there was something inside of her telling her to be on guard.  
  
He gave her an annoyed expression that said 'what' and she let it go for now. He wasn't acting any differently then he usually did. He was fine. It was just her overreacting after everything that had happened that day. Her nerves were going to be fried for a week because of everything that had happened that day.  
  
"Now, let's get home and get Victoria before the curse does," he said reaching out his hand to her.  
  
Piper took it slowly and Paige along with Phoebe all took hands together to make their way back to the house a faster one with all of them together. 


	37. What I Found Out About You

Chris sat in boredom at the Manor.  
  
Every once in awhile, he would use his telekinesis to push wood chips into a pile and then he'd push some leftover bits of stained glass in another pile. He couldn't believe of all things they had to give for him to do they had made him housesit.  
  
While, Wyatt, his mother, and his aunts dug up Wyatt's old body and recovered the ring from it, and Victoria had to sit in her haunted house alone waiting for death; he had to wait behind at the Manor for his mother to call to him to go and get Victoria. It had been his revelation that the ring probably was on Wyatt's past life's body and yet he was stuck here in the house bored out of his mind.  
  
His mother had given him the responsibility to watch over the house while they were gone. Just in case of any surprise demon attacks or what not had been her reasoning. Of course, he knew it was basically because of the front doors.  
  
Or else what was left of them.  
  
Before they had left Paige had cast a spell to make it look like the doors were still there.  
  
Of course, if anyone went up to them and leaned on one of them they would have the pleasure of falling straight through the illusion of the doors and onto their face since there was only a semblance of the doors attached to the house for now.  
  
As soon as he heard his mother sending him the message that they had successfully found the ring and were on their way he orbed away to find Victoria.  
  
It wasn't hard to find her either.  
  
He found out easily that night that if he'd wanted to find her all he had to do was relax a moment and search for her and he would find her. Her soul came into his minds sight as a dark blackening glow.  
  
It was that black color of her soul that was messing with his emotions now.  
  
He knew that with every innocent he'd ever protected that when their soul glowed black that death was coming. He could only hope that soon her soul would go back to its normal color and that death would lay off its claim over her.  
  
Chris found her instantly. She was in her old home in her bedroom lying on her canopy bed as if nothing were wrong.  
  
She was staring at the ceiling with an old white teddy bear in her grasp that was missing one eye and had seen better days. A large photo album was beside her on the bed and it was stuck on the middle page of all her pictures of her family and beside the album was a large ancient looking Book of Shadows.  
  
He noticed the room was in udder chaos around her. Pictures, books, knickknacks over the years, and toppled over lamps were lying on the floor. It looked like a tornado had went through the room and tried to destroy its very existence. Surprisingly, the bed and furniture looked untouched in the wake of all the chaos.  
  
Chris knew that it had been Victoria who had made the place a disaster area. He knew it had happened before they had even met in this life. It had been the only real thing she could have done constructively that let out her anger and her confusion over what she had just witnessed at her wedding.  
  
For a moment, as he looked over her, he forget where he was. He knew why Shakespeare had started writing so many doomed romances now. It was because everyone had a dark half that could falter and destroy their life.  
  
He wondered if Shakespeare was innately magical and had seen the future of many relationships, or at least had any idea of who Victoria was. If he did, Chris knew the plays may easily have been about her.  
  
He shook the thought of her being the ill-fated lover in Shakespeare's plays and looked around himself instead.  
  
Her room looked like an old Arabian castle and she was its queen. The gold tones of the walls melded in with the white furniture making the room look almost majestic. It almost reminded him of what heaven might be like.  
  
He watched her as she looked at the ceiling deep in thought. The clothes that she had worn that his aunts had given her earlier had been replaced by her own. Obviously, they hadn't been to her liking.  
  
What she wore now made her look even more beautiful and even more like herself.  
  
She had a dark mahogany red frock top that covered her like a short slightly ragged dress and a dark asymmetric black skirt that was down to her knee on the right side, but on the left side where the skirt started its line down to her knee it showed her mid thigh. Her dark reddish-brown hair was piled in curls on top of her head by large black rose clips with a few stray curls abandoning the clips embraces and cascading down her pale back. Her violet-blue eyes were covered with dark makeup that glittered in the light.  
  
She looked like a gothic fairy.  
  
Anger flowed through his veins as he watched her. She had done nothing to deserve to live like this. She didn't deserve to know that she was cursed to never know happiness and to die young. She didn't deserve to have everyone she ever cared about taken away from her.  
  
He hated knowing that death was watching over her for its opportune moment.  
  
He hated having to wait to see if she really could be saved.  
  
"Chris?" she asked, as she sat up on the bed at the sight of him.  
  
He knew that the worried expression on his face wasn't helping matters. He looked into her blue eyes and smiled gently. "We got it."  
  
"You did?" she asked, still confused by why he seemed so worried. Then she realized what he'd said. "You did!"  
  
"Yeah, you're going to live, Victoria. You're going to live," he told her smiling down on her as he took her hands in his and brought her to her feet in front of him.  
  
She was two inches shorter then him. He hadn't realized that before.  
  
She laughed happily and then kissed him. "How's that for a victory kiss?"  
  
"Damn good," he replied. "Now we have to get back to the Manor to meet them."  
  
She nodded and took his hand.  
  
They instantly orbed out of the room. She had to admit she liked orbing better then blinking. Orbing was more like a steady roller coaster ride on the speed of light when you used it. While, blinking could just be boring. Besides that, if you thought of some other destination while you were doing it you were more likely to end up there.  
  
She had learned that the hard way a few times as a child when she'd ended up falling into the middle of the ocean.  
  
They were in the hallway of the Manor in instants. Chris kept a hold of her hand as they walked down the darkened hallway away from the fake front doors.  
  
The house was silent. It was almost eerie this way. He was surprised that no one was there yet.  
  
He rarely ever was in the house when it was empty. It was nice to see that he had the chance to see it without everyone there. Especially since everyone was always there, or coming there, or else just leaving it together to vanquish some new evil after them.  
  
It was nice to be alone there. Especially, when he was alone there with Victoria.  
  
"This place is so much more different in the dark," she told him quietly.  
  
There was just something about dark and quiet houses that made you want to move more stealthy. It also made you barely want to talk above a whisper as if your speaking loudly would destroy the natural calm that descended in it after dark.  
  
They made their way down the hallway to a set of doors that he opened to get into the solarium. There he flicked on the lights to make everything more visible. Of course, they really didn't need the lights. It was very well lit on its own with the moonlight poring into the room in rainbows through the large stained glass windows that paneled around the room.  
  
"Shouldn't they be here?" she asked.  
  
"My mom said they were on their way. They won't be long. Don't worry about it," he told her.  
  
She nodded and looked at the room. It was beautiful here. It was almost romantic or else it would be under different circumstances.  
  
A shiver passed through her body chilling her to the bone. She had a really bad feeling about this. She felt like something was very off and very wrong and she didn't know what.  
  
She chalked it up to nerves because there wasn't anything wrong.  
  
She was going to be saved and there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  
  
For once, she was going to see her next birthday and the new year and so on and so on after that.  
  
The Charmed Ones had somehow come through for her and they were going to save her. She could barely believe it.  
  
She rubbed her arms in order to get the chill out of her skin. It barely worked as she looked at the beauty of the room.  
  
Chris stood beside her and stared at the table. It had been awhile since he'd been in there.  
  
It had used to be his old favorite place to hang out in. He'd used to do homework in there with Wyatt. Of course not much work was really done in there. Instead, Wyatt and he had goofed off a lot.  
  
They'd known that no one would bother them while they were in there saying they were doing homework so they had gotten away with a lot.  
  
Of course, that had been during the summer time when they'd been in magic school. Their mother had decided to give them the best of both worlds. So during the regular school year they went to public school and during the summer they went to magic school to learn new magical things to help them survive in the magical world.  
  
Which was cool because he got to learn a lot about magic, his ancestry , and even a few nifty spells, but it had been a lot of homework. It had ended up being more work for magic school then regular school.  
  
Of course, Wyatt had made it fun and worth it so he'd loved every minute of it.  
  
That was before Wyatt had become Mr. Popular valedictorian in regular school and had stopped hanging out with him.  
  
"I can't believe it's almost over," Victoria whispered breaking him away from his thoughts.  
  
Seeing she was cold he rubbed her arms and smiled down at her, "You'd better start believing it."  
  
She laughed and kissed him gratefully for the support he'd given her that she needed at that moment.  
  
Her hands ran through his silky dark brown hair. It had been forever since she had enjoyed a kiss it seemed. It seemed like it had been centuries since she'd had the peace of mind to enjoy it and stop worrying about dying.  
  
Soon she'd be home free. She'd be able to do whatever she wanted. She loved knowing that.  
  
Unbeknownst to them there was someone else in the house. He was leaning against the doorframe to the solarium and he was very angry at what he was seeing develop between Chris and Victoria.  
  
When will you ever learn, brother, to leave my things alone? The stranger asked, angrily silent.  
  
As his anger grew so did the atmosphere around him. A few of the potted plants that had been resting around the door and had been hanging from the ceiling near him quickly withered into a black corpse and died.  
  
He may have had the body and face of Wyatt, but he was none other then Andrew. And he was beyond pissed.  
  
He had come back for his bride and he was going to have her in this life no matter what the cost. 


	38. Mono

She looked at the clock, "Thirty minutes." she whispered to no one in general.  
  
"Soon, you won't care what time it is." he smiled down on her.  
  
"I can't believe it's almost over," she said.  
  
"Well, you better start believing it."  
  
She laughed and kissed him slowly. Enjoying every moment of it as she ran her hands through his silky dark brown hair. It had been forever since she had enjoyed a kiss. Since, she hadn't had to worry about dying.  
  
Unbeknownst to them there was someone else in the house and he as watching them angrily at that very moment. He had Wyatt's face and his body but he was none other then Andrew.  
  
He had come back for his bride and he would have her this time.  
  
He was pissed too.  
  
After all his planning to get back to her, he had to see this happen all over again. His very brother was taking the girl he loved all over again. What was wrong with this picture? Oh, yeah, it should be him she was kissing not his brother.  
  
Was this fate laughing at him?  
  
He had made a spell to bring him back to her when she would be the most susceptible to him again and then his very brother was wrecking his whole plan to get her back by trying to steal her away for himself all over again.  
  
He watched as they kissed.  
  
He saw her face calming and enjoying his lips on hers.  
  
She'd been like that with him once before. Before his brother had interfered. That was all he knew how to do was interfere and take what was Andrew's. He'd end that soon.  
  
He'd make sure his brother would see her turn evil with him. He'd make sure he suffered by seeing her change right before his eyes, and when she kissed him instead of his brother he'd make sure it was the last thing his brother ever saw.  
  
He smiled capriciously.  
  
Fate wouldn't be on his brother's side once this was over.  
  
Andrew stepped into the room clearing his throat to announce his presence to the happy couple making him sick at the moment. He leaned against the doorframe. If he got any closer to the happy couple he would tear out his brothers beating heart.  
  
Chris turned to his brother and smiled instantly. "Wyatt, you're back. Great."  
  
Poor ignorant brother. He really didn't see what was coming. He smiled at his brother, a smile that looked on the outside like it was in welcoming, but inside he felt the murderous rage caving in.  
  
He was really going to enjoy this. He hadn't had enough time in his last lifetime to torture his brother for taking the woman he loved away from him. The only time he'd been willing to take was to kill him. Times had changed though. Lives had changed and he had been dead for too long to know timing was everything. Especially, with revenge and his brother's death, and getting her to love him all over again.  
  
He had all the time in the world in this life for the last one.  
  
He looked over at Valerie. Her name was Victoria now, and it suited her far better then Valerie ever had.  
  
She was even more beautiful in this life if that were possible. He had to admit he had never been one for blonds, but now her reddish-brown hair suited her well. Her eyes were still the same violet-blue that they always had been and right at that moment they looked slightly hazel in the light. She had never lost her beautiful eyes. He guessed what they said was true about eyes being the portals to the soul.  
  
He couldn't believe he was finally standing there with her. He couldn't believe how a little time could change someone. Instead of her old brightly colored flappers dresses that made her look like an innocent water nymph, she wore dark colors now. These colors together along with her dark glittering eyes he liked on her so much better. No longer did she look innocent to the world, breakable to him, and angelic. Now, she looked devilish, gothic, and a bit like a mischievous fairy.  
  
He liked her far better in this life.  
  
As he looked at her his smile grew. He saw the slight shiver go through her body as his smile touched his eyes victoriously. She knew. In every lifetime, she knew who he was. Now, she knew he had come for her.  
  
"Hey, where's mom and the aunts?" Chris asked, when they didn't show up behind Andrew.  
  
Andrew had to smile at that. He was so gullible. His brother couldn't even tell that he was a stranger standing in front of him that would very much like to kill him. He laughed lightly remembering what he had done to the Charmed Ones.  
  
When they'd taken his hand to leave together and go back to the Manor, he had dropped them off alright. He had dropped Paige off inside a mausoleum that was magic proof that was barred to anyone getting in as well as out and then he'd put Piper and Phoebe in his old grave with his skeleton. He'd also added a few pounds of dirt on top of them to keep them distracted for awhile.  
  
That was if they ever found a way out.  
  
Of course, he doubted that. But, from time to time, he was mildly surprised by people. So, he didn't chalk them off the board just yet. Time would tell. It would tell a lot of things.  
  
"Chris, that's not Wyatt." Victoria informed him in a hard voice as she slowly backed up.  
  
"What?" Chris asked, looking back at her in confusion.  
  
In the instant that Chris was turned away from Andrew he took control of the situation. He telekinetically threw Chris up against the wall as hard as he could so he could take him out of the picture for now. "Why is it in every life you are always trying to take what is mine?"  
  
"Chris!" Victoria screamed as he bounced off the wall and fell into a hap hazardous position on the floor groaning weakly.  
  
Before she could even get to Chris, Andrew had blinked straight over to her to take her in his arms from behind. It felt good to have her in his arms again. He laughed greedily at how quickly everything seemed to be falling into place. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her. "Not this time."  
  
She quickly threw him back from her telekinetically. He flew against the wall instantly getting to his feet, wiping himself off, and laughing like he was the unstoppable Terminator.  
  
He knew one thing that was making him a very happy man. She was willing to use her powers to kill in this life. What a great achievement from the last.  
  
She quickly flew over to Chris to see if he was okay. He groaned again louder as his head moved. He was hurt badly. Victoria looked down at him putting his bleeding head on her knee. She felt the blood over her fingertips from a deep cut in the back of his head. She looked up for the reason and saw it.  
  
An old picture had been taken down to be repaired, but the nail that had been holding it up was still there. Chris's head had made a hard contact with the nail when Andrew had thrown him against the wall. It was a surprise he hadn't been completely knocked out by the attack.  
  
"Now is not the time, Chris. "she told him angrily. "Wake up! Do you hear me? Wake up before it's too late."  
  
Andrew instantly started towards her. She threw up her hand instinctively to do the only thing that might protect them for the time it may have needed to wake Chris up. They both seriously needed to be fighting Andrew. So she tried to bargain with time as she threw up her red protective shield around them to keep Andrew out.  
  
"You think that will hold me," he asked, amused to say the least.  
  
"What did you do to them?" she asked, as she quickly pushed her and Chris a few feet farther away from him towards the wall as she looked for a weapon to use. Nothing came in handy. The closest thing was a vase. Like that would even make a dent.  
  
He touched the red shield. It didn't bounce him back into the wall like it was supposed to. Instead it slowly started making ripples like water throughout it as she watched in fear. It wouldn't be long before he got to her.  
  
"What else could I do with them? I was lucky enough to be in a cemetery. So, I buried them." he told her nonchalantly.  
  
"What?" she asked. Somehow she wasn't surprised. It seemed like the best thing he could have done at the time. If she was cold -blooded enough to bury people alive she may have done the same thing. Hopefully, Chris was hearing this and could save them when her shield went down and Andrew had a hold of her. They were the only ones that could find them. Chris, she believed he could too, but his emotions and his condition would slow him down.  
  
Now, when time was the only thing to worry about, she needed the Charmed Ones to figure out a way to kill Andrew and get Wyatt back.  
  
"Don't worry about them. I don't have any need for them. I only came for you." he told her.  
  
"How?"  
  
He showed her the quartz crystal ring. "Remember this?"  
  
"You bastard. You knew.."  
  
"That sooner or later you would try to live and find me.. or the crappy version of me. Wyatt, I believe is the name I have know. What a loser. I can't believe I am playing on the good side in this lifetime. How idiotic is that?" he asked her, annoyed.  
  
The shield slowly stopped rippling.  
  
Now, it fragmented like red stained glass and then it sprayed around her. She protected her face with her hand and used her other hand to protect the fragments from hurting a defenseless, semi out of it Chris.  
  
"Shit," she cried as she felt the shards of her shield fling themselves at her.  
  
It was all the time that Andrew needed.  
  
As soon as he was through her shield he roughly took a firm grasp of her arm and brought her up to him. Leaving, Chris to fall roughly on the floor as he pulled her away from him. He quickly carried her over the wreck that was Chris's body and stepped a few feet away into the light to see her better.  
  
"You, however, have improved immensely," he told her kissing her neck.  
  
She went to one of her last resorts. Her hand started sparking electricity, but it was too late. He took the hand sparking electricity and smiled. He kissed it lightly as the electricity bolt stopped. She didn't know how he had done it, but she knew one thing. She was done for.  
  
"Let's get out of here, shall we?" he asked.  
  
With the wave of his hand a portal that showered rainbow hues into the room was opened beside them.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said.  
  
"I was planning on that." he replied.  
  
Before she could react, he threw her head back and pored a small blue colored potion down her throat. She tried not to swallow the thick contents of the vial, but he quickly covered her mouth and nostrils with his hand. It was either stop breathing or drink the disgusting liquid.  
  
She drank it.  
  
As she did, Chris raised his head groggily, The instant he saw the portal just behind them he started to shakily get up to stop them. Andrew was waiting for him though. He took Chris in his grasp and pored the rest of the disgusting blue potion into his mouth as Chris tried to fight him off.  
  
"Not now, brother. We'll resolve this later." Andrew informed him and then he let him collapse in a sleeping pile on the floor.  
  
He quickly caught Victoria in his arms as she collapsed at the same time. "It's been so long, Victoria. I've been waiting for too long for this. I won't let you say no to me this time." he promised kissing her forehead lovingly.  
  
Then, he quickly stepped into the portal before anyone else could come and interrupt their reunion. 


	39. Your Lucky Day In Hell

"Alright, sis. I love you and all, but this is way too close for comfort," Piper said. Then, she called the only being she knew who would be able to come to save her. "Leo!"  
  
Phoebe looked at her sister in a bit of a panic. They both were on opposite sides of the coffin. Incidentally, the corpse of past Wyatt was in between them. In a sick version of her thoughts she had to admit that the corpse was a lucky one.  
  
She looked at evil past life Wyatt's corpse and shivered. She really didn't like the fact that it looked as if it were grinning at her. If she was in there any longer she had a feeling she would start to see things that she didn't want to because of her overworked imagination.  
  
She was entirely with Piper on this one. If Leo didn't orb his butt down there quick and save them she would most definitely go crazy sharing the itsy bitsy living space with her moody older sister and a dead guy.  
  
"This is so gross," Phoebe announced as she tried to wiggle as far as she could from the corpse so that none of it would touch her.  
  
"You're telling me." Piper murmured. "Leo, we are in a dire emergency here. If you leave me in this coffin any longer I swear to you I will..."  
  
She was interrupted a moment later as the lid to the coffin came flying off. Leo stuck his head over the side to see his wife and sister in law curled on opposite sides of the smiling corpse.  
  
Piper took a sigh of relief and took his offered hand out of the coffin. "My hero, "she said thankfully as she gave him a big hug in gratitude for saving her life.  
  
"Are you all okay?" Leo asked, taking Phoebe's hand and helping her up next.  
  
Phoebe quickly scooted out of the coffin and ran a few steps away from the grave. She wasn't willing to be any closer to it then she needed to be. She had a feeling she would have a new phobia of being buried alive after this.  
  
"Except for the traumatic nightmares I'm going to be having with me being stuck in a grave with a corpse I think I'll live," Phoebe said, brushing herself off. "So gross."  
  
"Alright, where's Paige?" Piper asked, looking around the cemetery worried.  
  
Piper had been through hell just feeling the coffin lid not being able to come up. Then the sound of the dirt falling over top of it didn't really help matters much. She swallowed and looked for her baby sister. She was no where in sight. A sick feeling came to her stomach in dread. What had he done to her? She at least had had Phoebe when they'd been buried alive. What horrible thing had he put Paige through alone?  
  
"Here." came a strangled voice that was coming closer to their circle beside the open grave.  
  
They all turned to see Paige hobbling over to them through the graveyard. There was definitely something wrong with her leg the way she was walking. She finally got to them and gave them a small, weakened smile.  
  
"Oh, thank god. I thought you were buried alive somewhere else and we would never find you!" Piper announced taking a sigh of relief.  
  
"Sorry, I got lucky." she told them and pointing to her leg she asked Leo. "Leo, do you mind."  
  
"Not at all," he replied, instantaneously kneeling down on the ground and healing her leg.  
  
"So, where were you placed ever so lovingly?" Piper asked, flipping her dark brown hair out of her face. She was more then peeved that evil past Wyatt had taken advantage of them. Also, she was incredibly worried at where her own son was now.  
  
"I was trapped in a mausoleum which by the way happened to be magic proof and locked up. So I had to climb out of it after breaking a window." she replied. "Let's just add breaking and exiting onto the resume while we're at it."  
  
"That's just peachy. Whenever I find evil past Wyatt I am going to wring his little neck." Piper warned, angrily.  
  
"Alright, someone explain to me what happened to my nephew?" Phoebe said.  
  
"Well, it's kind of what happened to you. I am assuming that when he put on the ring his former past self had placed a spell on it so that they would exchange places. "Leo explained.  
  
"Nice plan considering it worked and now he's out and about in our time," Paige remarked, brushing dirt out of her hair.  
  
"Uh, you guys, we have more problems then that." Phoebe told them as she pointed the flashlight to the grave.  
  
"Now, what?" Piper asked.  
  
"Look at the gravestone." Phoebe told her.  
  
"Alright, what?" Paige asked, impatiently.  
  
"Well, do you guys see the date on it?" she asked.  
  
"February 17th 1924, you guys. That's today. He died today." Phoebe told them spastically.  
  
"And now Wyatt is back in his last life right about the time he probably has to die." Paige relayed to them as she pieced it together.  
  
"Giving his past life's self a chance in our century and a get out of jail free card to dying." Piper added.  
  
"And now Chris and Victoria are sitting ducks!" Phoebe cried. "Quickly, back to the Manor."  
  
They all instantly grabbed an orbing partner and made their way back to the Manor. When they got there it was quieter then they wanted it to be. They orbed straight into the hallway in the eerie quiet of the house and looked around for any signs of life. The only one that was there was from the light that they saw coming from the solarium.  
  
They slowly went towards the solarium. Each of them preparing themselves for battle. Phoebe looked at her older sister and hoped that Chris and Victoria were all okay somewhere else and that evil past life Wyatt hadn't come around yet. She also hoped that if they did come in on Chris and Victoria that they wouldn't see anything they weren't supposed to see be going on.  
  
Of course, she hoped for the last choice instead of the first choice if she had to vote for any, but she didn't want that choice in a creepy want to see her nephew getting it on with another girl way, but in a my nephew is safe and sound and a bit lucky way.  
  
Piper gave her a slow look of hope too, but deep inside of her dark brown eyes there was a dominant trace of worry.  
  
"Chris? Chris, where are you?" Phoebe called from the closed doorway.  
  
"Chris? Victoria?" Piper called also as she tried to see if there was any movement behind the doors.  
  
"Maybe, they didn't hear you page them and they're safe somewhere else," Paige tried.  
  
"Yeah, right. With our luck," Piper remarked with a brief look in Paige's direction.  
  
"Let's find out," Phoebe said taking initiative.  
  
Phoebe kicked open the stained glass doors and quickly jumped inside in an martial arts move that would let her move or protect herself from anything. Paige and Piper quickly followed behind her. Piper was ready to freeze and Paige had orbed a very nice baseball bat into her hand in case it was needed.  
  
Of course, there was no movement in the room. It was dead. The only thing showing that there had once been life there was the fact that the overhead lights had been turned on.  
  
Then, Phoebe warily spotted Chris.  
  
He was lying on the floor completely knocked out. Also, he looked like he had been knocked around pretty hard by a very angry dead man. One that must have taken Victoria with him after he had beaten up his younger brother.  
  
Phoebe knew one thing. Past life Wyatt wasn't in the mood for anyone to be getting in his way of having Victoria all to himself. It showed in how well he'd beaten Chris to a pulp.  
  
Also, he had to be pissed. She had a feeling that evil Wyatt had come in and saw something he hadn't liked. Probably, Victoria and Chris kissing and this was how Chris had been punished. He'd probably been pissed at knowing that the two had fallen into the same pattern as in their last life. The pattern where Chris was taking Victoria away from past Wyatt all over again. And, evil Wyatt had gotten him good for it while also taking Victoria away as his own bride.  
  
"You were saying?" Phoebe said to Paige with raised eyebrows.  
  
"Well, I guess this means that Victoria's with evil Wyatt." Paige responded, looking around.  
  
"You guess?" Phoebe laughed dryly.  
  
"Sleeping potion. He'll be fine, Piper." Leo said as he looked over their youngest son.  
  
"I doubt that Victoria will be that lucky." Piper said. 


	40. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

"Mommy, why are we here?" little Victoria asked as she clung to her mother's warm hand.  
  
She looked up at her tall mommy who was almost the mirror image of herself when she was to grow up except for her eyes which were the color of honey. In her mommy's eyes she found an uncontrollable sadness lolling around that her mommy had carried with her the whole day stoically.  
  
Her mommy hadn't told her where they were going. She had just tied the shoelaces to Victoria's flashy white new shoes that lit up in red beads of color whenever she walked in them.  
  
She had just brought her to the old cemetery that laid on the edge of the city.  
  
It was one of the oldest cemetery's around. It had been there for three centuries now. It was also one of the most beautiful cemetery's Victoria had ever seen. The many cherubs and the colorful marble angels of the old gravestones smiled down at her peacefully as she walked quickly past them on her four-year-old legs trying to keep up with her fast walking mommy.  
  
They came to a section of the cemetery that hadn't been used in a while and it was there that her mommy stopped. Victoria took in a gulp of air as she looked upon the dark gray gravestone.  
  
This gravestone wasn't even half as pretty as the others. It was slowly crumbling in its old age, and it didn't even have any poems or loving words placed upon it by the person's family.  
  
It merely read: Valerie Woods  
October 4, 1905-Feburay 17, 1924  
R.I.P  
  
"Grave rubbings?' she asked her mommy looking up at her with inquiringly innocent blue-violet eyes.  
  
"No, honey." her mother replied as she knelt down beside her in the patch of forest green grass. "Remember when Mommy told you that she could see things others couldn't see?"  
  
"Yes, mommy." Victoria replied. "It's a secret."  
  
Her mommy smiled down warmly at her as she touched her chubby cheek gently and then looked at the gravestone, "Yes, our little secret. Well, this is something I saw once."  
  
"Who was it?"  
  
"Oh, sweetie. She is a part of you. A part of you that you won't be able to get rid of."  
  
"Are we family?" she asked, gently tracing her small fingers over the letters.  
  
"Not really, dear. But, I guess, you could say that in a matter of words."  
  
"Why are you sad, mommy?" Victoria asked her mother as she touched the suddenly falling crisp tears running down her mother's face.  
  
"Oh, sweetheart." her mother whispered as she gave her a long, hard hug. "I need to tell you this before my time comes to an end. You won't understand either. Not till it's too late, but I can't call myself your mother and let you live not knowing. Especially, when I won't be around to protect you."  
  
"Mommy, where are you going?" little Victoria asked, frowning.  
  
Her mother laughed her innocent question and brushed away some of her steadily falling tears. "Somewhere where you can't follow."  
  
"Will daddy be there?"  
  
"No, not for awhile, sweetheart. Not for a while," her mother told her as she looked deep into her violet-blue eyes.  
  
Her daughter's eyes were the eyes of a stranger. They weren't eyes of anyone in her family and because of that she had the burden of powers she wouldn't know what to do with. Powers that would make her stronger then the average witch, and powers that could easily target her demise.  
  
She pushed Victoria's dark red hair out of her face as she looked at her so intently. Victoria didn't understand any of this. Which was understandable.  
  
She was only a child. She was still innocent to the world. Even to death. Her mother had known that her time was coming to an end on Earth, but she didn't know how to warn Victoria about the hardships to come.  
  
How could Victoria understand her warnings let alone use them? She was only a child. She would forget this as easily as she got over her old toys and grew up.  
  
Years would bury this memory and she'd never understand the warning. She wouldn't get it until it was too late.  
  
Her poor baby.  
  
When Victoria had first been born she'd seen her future.  
  
It had been beautiful. She'd done so many good things in it and had saved so many people. Then, her future had changed. Victoria's mother never understood how it had happened or even how it could have changed.  
  
She realized Victoria's future had changed the day she'd found out she was dying of cancer. Of all things she could worry about, she'd been so worried about her baby girl.  
  
She'd looked into the future just to make sure Victoria would be okay without her. She'd expected to see the same brilliant future as she'd seen the day Victoria had been born, but it had changed somehow.  
  
She'd seen Victoria suffering unlike any other suffered.  
  
Instead of happiness, she'd seen death everywhere in Victoria's future. Death had outlined her happiest moment. Her wedding day.  
  
It was then that Death staked his claim over Victoria and had been with her every day for the rest of her life.  
  
Death was her future. Not love, and not life, but death.  
  
"Shhh. Be quiet. You won't remember this well, but I have to try. I love you , Victoria. Never forget that." she gave her daughter a kiss. "I have a warning."  
  
"Mommy, I'm scared."  
  
"Sweetie, I don't mean to scare you. Listen to me. Okay, Victoria? Just listen to what I have to say and remember it as if your life depended on it," she whispered, intensely.  
  
"Okay, Mommy."  
  
Softly she whispered the spell hoping that it would keep the words in her daughter's mind as a fair warning. "Time heals, time steals, the words I speak, your mind shall keep, as well as your fate shall seal."  
  
She kissed her daughter on her forehead as pain vibrated throughout her body. Her time was coming to an end quickly. She would soon die in this very graveyard with her daughter standing beside her.  
  
This was the only warning she could give her daughter.  
  
Unless, of course, her daughter chose to bring her spirit back to her later in life.  
  
Poor Victoria. She'd have no guidance through life, through magic, or even through death who haunted her even now as a child. Death knew what laid in store for her daughter. She'd seen him often with Victoria throughout her life.  
  
She hated Death for being there. He had no claim over her daughter yet, but he still lingered near her. He had no claim over her until the day she experienced true happiness. Coincidentally, that day would be the same day as the one the gravestone read.  
  
"Child, you will use your magic again. I'm sorry for the circumstances that will lead you to it. But fate must be answered to. You're cursed, Victoria. You will never know what love or happiness is. If you do feel it for even the slightest moment you will pay dearly for it. I'm sorry, my baby. I can't help you at all."  
  
She felt the panic rake through her body as well as the pain as her last words fell into the air. She was dying. It was her time. She'd lived the life she was supposed to live and now she had to let go of it.  
  
"I love you, my baby. Don't forget that ever," her mother told her as she laid down on her daughter's last life's grave.  
  
"Mommy, are you okay?"  
  
"I'm just sleepy, baby." she told her. It was the easiest way to leave her. It was her last lie. "Mommy, just needs a little rest. Now, sweetheart. I want you to dial 9-1-1 when I start to sleep. Tell them.."  
  
Her voice faded. Her life ended and she smiled her last softly at her baby girl. It was all she could do to let go.  
  
Victoria stood beside her mommy and watched as her breathing stopped. Then, she slowly took the cell phone out of the blue purse and dialed 9-1-1 like her mommy had asked her to.  
  
She knew her mommy was dead. She knew she should have mourned for her, but she couldn't feel anything.  
  
Her mommy had left her alone.  
  
----- ------ ----- --------------

"Mommy," she whispered.  
  
It was hard to open her eyes now. Victoria could feel the sunlight poring onto her, but she didn't want to wake up. She wanted to lie around in bed all day and never wake up again. But, somehow, she knew she had to.  
  
Instantly, she remembered the whole day from the wedding, to attacking Wyatt, to falling in love with Chris all over again, and now she was somewhere she didn't think she wanted to be.  
  
She was with Andrew.  
  
He had somehow found her all over again and had attacked Chris at the Manor when they'd been waiting for everyone to come back with the ring. He had used the ring to exchange places with Wyatt and now Wyatt was in the past. Her powers hadn't done her any good. He had still hurt Chris and had taken her away without any problems.  
  
She slowly opened her eyes very aware of not wanting to be there. A bad feeling spilled through her blood as she looked around at her surroundings.  
  
She was lying on her bed in her own bedroom.  
  
She saw the golden posts of her bed that held the wispy ivory colored canopy that floated in a phantom breeze. The sun was gleaming through her opened bay window bringing with it the sounds of people gossiping and laughing. It was almost normal as if nothing had happened. As if she had merely only had a nightmare.  
  
Maybe, it had all been a dream.  
  
As she rested up on her elbows she noticed that she could faintly hear Cannon in D playing from down below. As her ears registered it it slowly started back at the beginning again. She knew it was playing for a reason and that was reason was her. Somehow she had slept through the day and the last minute wedding preparations.  
  
It was her wedding day all over again.  
  
She quickly parted the ivory canopy and slithered out of bed. From there she slowly walked to the bay window to look down at the backyard. She wasn't too sure on what she was going to find there.  
  
Everything and everyone was lit in soft orangish pink hues coming from the sunlit sky setting a romanticism to the wedding going on below.  
  
Small white and baby blue marble towers had been set up down at the ends of every aisle with red roses sprouting out of them almost as of they had grown there wild. The white chairs had been set up in the shape of a horseshoe around the aisle so that everyone would get a clear view of Victoria on her way down to the altar. Small white Chinese globes lit with pink candles covered the whole yard where everyone was sitting. Up and down the aisles and all over the veranda they had even set up a beautiful pattern of white glittering Christmas lights. The aftermath of all the soft glows and warm red hues along with the sunset almost blew her away as she looked down.  
  
White and pink roses were strewn in patches crisscrossing over the white veranda's frame where she was to say her wedding vows.  
  
Her father, oddly, was already standing at the altar. Her fiancé was standing with his back to her and exchanging a few words with the priest. He didn't seem at all that nervous. He seemed ready to get the show on the road.  
  
People were waiting for her come. Everyone was seated and waiting for her to walk down the aisle towards her husband to be.  
  
Everything was in its place. Everything was perfect, but she still had a chill flowing steadily through her bones that she couldn't get rid of. Was this a dream?


	41. Mind Games

And so begins the last few chapters of this story.... Dun dun dun.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria quickly parted the ivory canopy and slithered out of bed. From there she slowly walked to the bay window to look down at the backyard. She wasn't too sure on what she was going to find there.  
  
Everything and everyone was lit in soft orangish pink hues coming from the sunlit sky setting a romanticism to the wedding going on below.  
  
Small white and baby blue marble towers had been set up down at the ends of every aisle with red roses sprouting out of them almost as of they had grown there wild. The white chairs had been set up in the shape of a horseshoe around the aisle so that everyone would get a clear view of Victoria on her way down to the altar. Small white Chinese globes lit with pink candles covered the whole yard where everyone was sitting. Up and down the aisles and all over the veranda they had even set up a beautiful pattern of white glittering Christmas lights. The aftermath of all the soft glows and warm red hues along with the sunset almost blew her away as she looked down.  
  
White and pink roses were strewn in patches crisscrossing over the white veranda's frame where she was to say her wedding vows.  
  
Her father, oddly, was already standing at the altar. Her fiancé was standing with his back to her and exchanging a few words with the priest. He didn't seem at all that nervous. He seemed ready to get the show on the road.  
  
People were waiting for her come. Everyone was seated and waiting for her to walk down the aisle towards her husband to be.  
  
Everything was in its place. Everything was perfect, but she still had a chill flowing steadily through her bones that she couldn't get rid of.  
  
Was this a dream?  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
Her bedroom with its natural, familiar setting disappeared from around her as she looked down on her wedding.  
  
The bays window view was the last thing to go.  
  
All of a sudden, she found herself on the aisle where the white petals of the flower girls had been thrown. It was so surreal to find herself there all over again when she hadn't even made the effort to leave her own bedroom. She had somehow been brought down to her very wedding.  
  
Now, she no longer was the spectator, but the bride ready to go down the aisle.  
  
The bay windows frame slowly disappeared around her as she took a breath in and looked at the veranda. Now there was nothing in her path to the veranda where Mark was waiting for her. Chills flew through her body and into her bones as she started to make her way to the veranda and Mark.  
  
Hadn't she been here before? Hadn't she done this once already today?  
  
She tried to remember if she had as the feeling of déjà vu entered her system. Of course, she couldn't really remember it all that well if she had. It was a vague memory that she had of the wedding. Perhaps it had only been a dream.  
  
As she went past the seats of smiling people, they turned in their white chairs and turned back into stationary puppets that they initially were. They looked like the shells of people that they had once been in life.  
  
There in their natural positions they turned back into the dead state that she'd seen them in when she'd awoke to find everyone dead. Their movements seemed rusty and puppet- like as they turned away from her. Their expressions freezing on their pale, ghoulish faces.  
  
This movement happened as she walked stilted down the aisle. Behind her, the row that she had just walked past turned back to face the veranda and once she had passed the aisle ahead of them they were completely wiped out of the picture. In their places, was a black hole. As the black hole consumed the people watching the wedding they turned to dust, the marble towers with the wild flowers growing from them withered, and then the whole background was engorged in a solid black.  
  
This happened in a domino effect to every row that she passed on her way to the altar and her husband to be.  
  
Mark hadn't turned to her yet. He was waiting for the surprise of seeing her as long as he could. He stood looking ahead of himself at the altar with a small smile on his lips that she could see from his profile.  
  
Victoria looked down at her dress nervously.  
  
Instead of the her long white silk strapless wedding gown that had fallen around her in gauzy white layers of spiraling icy frost she wore a darker version of it in the colors of black and dark red. Her long silk strapless wedding gown was a dark red underneath that looked like lingerie and then black gauzy layers spiraled around her body like black crystalloid frost.  
  
Instead of looking like a Greek goddess now she looked like the angel of death.  
  
It was then that she realized everything was all wrong here.  
  
She wanted to turn and flee, but she couldn't. It was as if her legs had a mind of their own and they kept her on her path to the verandas wedding altar. She felt as if she were caught on film and that the impression of her walk to the altar was always replaying itself and she was caught inside of it.  
  
Everything around her was black and white now. Unlike the world she knew that was in Technicolor the whole place and people were black and white. The only colorized things in this world were Mark and herself.  
  
It seemed like it took forever, but she finally made it to the altar.  
  
She'd made it to him.  
  
She half expected Mark to turn to her. She still had the hope that her life had changed and she was living what should have happened at her wedding. She hoped that it was playing her wedding day now because the curse had been destroyed and she was able now to live what should have been.  
  
She knew better though.  
  
She knew it before he even turned to take her hands in his greedily. As he did turn to her color ran through the world around her again.  
  
He smiled at her with his blue eyes searing into hers and then he kissed both her hands as she stopped in front of him, "It took you forever," he said, softly.  
  
She knew what happened next. She would say, "God, I love you." And her tears would fall, and her happiest moment would occur in life. Then, everyone she ever knew or loved lives would end in front of her very eyes.  
  
But she doubted that that would be her same fate now.  
  
There was one very good reason for that and it was because Andrew stood before her at the altar. He had been the one who had taken her hands, the one who had replayed her whole wedding, and the one who had tricked her into believing that he was the man she loved. The man who she was supposed to be with.  
  
It was hard to believe that everything around her wasn't the real thing. It was as if he had a hold of her memory and was replaying it again for her just to see if he could twist it to his own liking and win her over.  
  
If there was a time to feel like she was going to go crazy now was the time.  
  
She looked around the white boarded pink and white rose strewn veranda and what had been her backyard for help, but there was none. Everyone and everything that had been there before was gone. It now was covered in a black void.  
  
The only thing that still existed where they were were the two of them and the veranda they stood on.  
  
Wherever they were they were alone. There was no help coming. He had her and she knew it and she hated him for it.  
  
"Wyatt?" she asked, in a half ass attempt of the only remaining hope inside of her soul.  
  
"I think you know better then that," he responded. Then he kissed her wrist and proved to her that she was living her worst nightmare with one single word. "Nymphet."


	42. Welcome To Struggleville

They all were in the solarium. Paige who had been healed earlier that night now was healing the back of Chris's head where he had had a nasty looking wound. She had to admit he really had been knocked around by evil Wyatt.  
  
As soon as his green eyes opened she smiled down at him happily. At least one good thing had happened that day. Chris was at least safe and sound for now.  
  
"You okay?" Piper asked her son.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Victoria?" he asked instantly with his bright green eyes blazing as he searched the room for her.  
  
"He took her," Phoebe told him the bad news.  
  
Instantly to her words she felt anger, sadness, and worry flow through her veins. She knew who's emotions she felt without a doubt as she watched her nephew deal with the news. Poor Chris. Twice in one day he'd been powerless to stop the people he loved from being hurt.  
  
"Evil Wyatt is going to get his ass kicked in when I get a hold of him," Piper threatened.  
  
"Whatever we do we can't kill him," Phoebe reminded.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I remember what happened with you," Piper quipped.  
  
"So fill me in?" Paige asked, looking at her sisters.  
  
"If we hurt or kill evil Wyatt then when Wyatt comes back he has to deal with the repercussions of our actions. Somehow we have to get his ring off of him in enough time to say the spell to bring Wyatt back and then we have to put it on Victoria to stop the curse from killing her," Piper told her youngest sister.  
  
Paige sat down in one of the chairs in the solarium. "That's great. Can we get anymore complicated?"  
  
"Of course, we can. We still have to scry for them to see where they are." Phoebe added.  
  
"Damn it!" Chris cried in aggravation.  
  
"Chris, calm down!" Paige ordered as she watched her overly emotional nephew spaz out.  
  
"If it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have found her!" Chris told them.  
  
"Don't blame yourself. He fooled all of us," Phoebe admitted.  
  
"He's my brother. I should have realized. I should have known the minute I saw him!" Chris cried, angrily pacing around the room.  
  
Piper, Paige and Phoebe shared a look of extreme worry as they watched Chris pace back and forth in anger. If it had been a secret before that Chris felt more then friendly feelings towards Victoria then his actions were blowing the ship out of the water now.  
  
"Chris, you didn't know what happened. You saw Wyatt with your eyes not your heart," Piper told him as she tried to reassure him that he wasn't a bad brother.  
  
She hated to admit that she hadn't known herself. She was his mother. She'd given birth to him and raised him his whole life. So why hadn't she known it wasn't her son? She should have been the one to know it first.  
  
"Alright. Well, I'm going to go get a scrying crystal," Phoebe told them. She had to get out of the room. It was so filled with emotional charges and undercurrents that she could barely think. The attic seemed like the best place for her at the moment.  
  
"Do we have anything of hers?" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't know. Chris?" Piper asked her son.  
  
He took a moment to answer. He was looking at the floor in the center of the room. There there was a dark sooty black mark from where the portal had been opened. Victoria was with him now. He had her. Chris didn't even want to know what he was putting her through.  
  
Victoria, I will save you, he promised silently.  
  
"Yeah, I can get something," he replied.  
  
He quickly orbed out of the Manor to her house to get what they needed to find her. There was no time to waste and he wasn't going to waste the time that he still had.  
  
Piper sat down on a chair beside Paige and sighed. "I don't care what anyone says it's just not healthy raising kids with magic."  
  
"Oh, don't beat yourself up. We've got too much of that going around as it is," Paige replied.  
  
"Paige, do you even realize what day it is?" Piper asked, resting her head on the palm of her hand.  
  
"Uh, Friday?" Paige asked.  
  
"No, well yeah. Besides that?" Piper asked, waving her other hand for more of an answer.  
  
"Okay, Piper. You've lost me."  
  
"Paige, it's Chris's high school graduation. Or well it was." Piper informed her as she saw the time on the clock.  
  
"Oh, no. We completely forgot," Paige cried.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Not only does my son have to save an innocent and his big brother from being possessed by an evil entity, but he also has to miss his graduation."  
  
Paige frowned, "I can't believe we forgot something so big."  
  
Phoebe coming into the room with the scrying crystal and map in both her hands asked, "Forgot what?"  
  
"Chris's high school graduation," Paige reminded Phoebe.  
  
"Oh, no! That was today? It completely blew my mind," Phoebe told them as she let the contents in her hands fall onto the table.  
  
"It blew all of our minds. Because of this. Because he was raised magical," Piper cried.  
  
"Oh, sweetie. I know that it sucks that he missed his graduation, but you have to look at the big picture here," Phoebe told Piper as she gave her a reassuring hug.  
  
"Yeah, he's done so much good Piper. Think of all the innocents he's saved," Paige added, jumping on the band wagon and giving Piper a hug too.  
  
"But at his own expense," Piper said.  
  
"He has a will of his own, Piper." Paige replied.  
  
"Yeah, he's had numerous chances to turn his back on magic, but he hasn't." Phoebe reminded her sister laying her head on top of Piper's.  
  
"That's because all he knows is magic."  
  
"Piper, sweetie. It's his destiny. But we can't live forever ignoring our destiny. That's just not who we are," Phoebe said.  
  
Piper nodded. Maybe, she was just overreacting.  
  
"Alright? Now, let's find Victoria before evil past life Wyatt makes a dent in this century," Paige said, getting up from the hug and setting the map up so they could start scrying.  
  
Just as she did Chris orbed in. In his hands, he held the old teddy bear that was missing one eye that Victoria had had with her earlier when he'd told her that they had found a way to save her. He handed the bear to Paige and then looked over at his teary eyed mother confused.  
  
"What's wrong? What happened? Victoria?" he asked, immediately going to his mother's side.  
  
Piper laughed and waved her hand dismissively.  
  
Phoebe patted Chris's shoulder. "She's alright, Romeo."  
  
"Let's get this show on the road," Paige broke in as the crystal started to search the map for Victoria.  
  
The crystal went crazy in her hand. Instead of pointing at a certain destination it went all over the map. Then, it started to slow down as it went over the U.S. When it reached the ocean in the equator half of the map it stopped. Then, it spiraled once and flung itself up away from the map and straight into the air not even showing a point on the map but in the air.  
  
"Uh, is that good?" Paige asked.  
  
"I dunno," Phoebe responded.  
  
"Great. We don't have time for this. Leo!" Piper yelled up to the heavens.  
  
Instantly, he orbed into the Manor and turned to see them all looking at him for answers. He had answers alright. They weren't going to like any of them.  
  
"Explain this," Piper said pointing at the scrying crystal where it stood in the air.  
  
"Wow, I haven't seen that happen in a long time," he remarked as he came over to the table that they were all hovering near.  
  
"Okay, so what does it mean?" Piper asked, impatiently.  
  
"Well, it means that Wyatt's past life and Victoria are in Limbo right now."  
  
"Okay, so how do we get there?" Paige asked.  
  
"There's no easy way to get there. It's not a safe place to be in either. " he told them.  
  
"So you know about Wyatt?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Yeah, the Elders told me about his past self placing a spell on the ring. I was going to warn you, but it was too late."  
  
"Well, that's just wonderful. Yay, Elders. It figures that they hold onto valuable information first and explain after," Piper complained.  
  
"Well, I guess we should get to it," Phoebe said.  
  
"Actually, you can't all go. It's too dangerous," Leo warned.  
  
"Excuse me?" Paige asked completely taken off guard.  
  
"Limbo is dangerous for living souls. It's a hard place to describe," Leo told them.  
  
They all gave him wide eyed angry stares. He didn't doubt that they wanted to beat him up and throw him right back up to the Elders for what he was saying. Especially Chris, who had somehow fallen in love with Victoria. According to the Elders, it was a doomed romance, but he didn't want to tell his son that.  
  
"That seems to be your theme song today," Piper remarked as she got up from her seat and stood with her sisters and son.  
  
"Look, you can't all go up there. If you even make it there you will all be separated along the way. Believe me, you don' t want to be alone up there. Besides, Limbo isn't kind to trespassers."  
  
"Yet Victoria and past life Wyatt are up there?" Paige asked, confused.  
  
"That's because his ring was blessed by both a magically innate living person and a dead soul. With it he can go anywhere, do anything." Leo informed them.  
  
"What about Victoria?" Chris asked. "She doesn't have that."  
  
"Right now the ring is protecting both of them. Until midnight, of course. Then all bets are off."  
  
"Why would he even take her up there?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Because Limbo has certain magical properties that he can link into. He can change their place of existence to whatever he wants it to be. Also, he can bring anyone dead or alive to them."  
  
"So you think that he is trying to win her over by bringing her family back to her?" Piper asked as it all clicked into place.  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Well, she'll never go for that." Chris told them earnestly.  
  
Leo frowned in answer, "There's something else about Limbo that you all don't understand."  
  
"Well?" Phoebe asked as she tapped her foot impatiently on the tiled floor.  
  
"The longer a person is there the more they forget about life down here."  
  
"No way. We've got to save her like now," Chris cried intensely as he quickly went to stand in front of his father.  
  
"It's too dangerous," Leo repeated again.  
  
"I don't care." Chris told him as he crossed his arms over his chest in a battle of wills.  
  
"Chris, I know you have feelings..."  
  
"Look, dad." Chris interrupted. "Just shut up! Either you help me get to her so I can bring her and Wyatt back home safely or else you get the hell out of my way!"  
  
Leo looked at him son and couldn't help wanting to smile. His son was so much like him in that moment. He was willing to do anything for love and his stubborn streak was showing through now more then ever as stood up to him to get his way so that he could save his brother and the girl he loved.  
  
They had been wrong about it being Wyatt's fight. It had been Chris's fight the whole time. He was the only one that could go after the ones he loved and bring them back.  
  
Chris wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way. He'd just found Victoria and he was going to save her. Also, that was his big brother who needed to be resurrected into the right time. He wasn't about to sit back and see what happened given time. He was actually going to do something about it.  
  
Leo nodded at his son after a brief silence. "Fine, then. You can go, but only you."  
  
"Thanks for seeing it my way, dad. Now, what do I have to do?" Chris asked, ready to go and kick some ass. 


	43. For You I'll Be Forgetting Me

"Wyatt?" she asked, in a half ass attempt of the only remaining hope inside of her soul.  
  
"I think you know better then that," he responded. Then he kissed her wrist and proved to her that she was living her worst nightmare with one single word. "Nymphet."

All hope failed. Her stomach turned in despair as she watched him grinning at her. He would never let go of her. She'd been fooling herself thinking it was over. How could she have even believed that he would let her bypass him? Stupid, so stupid. She cursed herself as she looked into his blue eyes.  
  
His luminous blue eyes were as hard and cold of a blue gray as the marble gravestones that she had used to use for grave rubbings. They showed her the only feeling that he's ever had towards her. Lust.  
  
His eyes, for being Wyatt's, were so different. They were so cold and so capricious. Wyatt's had been warm underneath his worry and mistrust.  
  
He really had evolved. Good for him, she though hysterically as Andrew smiled down on her. She'd never have the chance to evolve.  
  
"Andrew, how?"  
  
She could barely speak she was in so much shock. She'd give anything for the ruthless resolve of vengeance she'd had earlier when she'd went after Wyatt. All that came was her own self-doubt and fatigue.  
  
"I knew you'd figure it out one day. So, I placed a spell on the ring so that whenever my future self put it on to save you I'd take his place. I knew he'd feel the same way about you as I did. So I knew my plan would never fail," he informed her.  
  
Wyatt was gone. Somewhere else. He was gone because of her. But he had never loved her. Andrew was wrong about that one. Really, really wrong.  
  
"Thanks to you for that," Andrew laughed, cheerfully. "So, how did you get him? Was it your old endearing self, did you give him those big blue eyes and ask for his help, or did you exchange services?" he asked as lowering his eyes to look over her body in reference to his last assumption.  
  
"You bastard!" she cried, hitting him in his chest in anger.  
  
He took his chance to have her in his arms then. He quickly got a hold of her with his one arm slung around her shoulders and the other tightly holding her body to his by resting his hand on her stomach. Her arms were squished in between his and she could do nothing to push him away from her. She glared angrily at the world around them with her back pressed to his hard chest.  
  
"Where is he now?" she asked, roughly trying to break his hold on her.  
  
"Who?" he asked, blankly.  
  
"You know who I'm referring to! Stop acting stupid and answer me. You owe me that."  
  
"Oh, you've changed, haven't you?" he asked, kissing her neck lightly. "Oh, we'll have all the time in the world to see just how much you've changed."  
  
"Never," she hissed.  
  
"Shhh. It's only a matter of time," he told her as his kisses dipped lower to her shoulders.  
  
"Where's Wyatt?" she asked again.  
  
She didn't use her magic against Andrew. She knew that whatever he'd done to her, and wherever he'd taken her her magic wouldn't work in the same way. She knew him far too well to just believe he'd given her a sleeping potion. He must've spiked the potion to relax her powers from use for at least the small remainder of time she had left. He wasn't stupid enough to believe she would wake up with him and not try to kill him after everything he had done to her.  
  
"Oh, he's running from the cousins about now. You remember them, don't you? I seem to recall you had the notion that I'd let you close enough to them to have them help you vanquish me. Whatever made you think such a thing?"  
  
"Why are the cousins after him?"  
  
"Well, since you were dead by then you don't know this."  
  
"Know what?" she asked, annoyed with all the cryptic talk.  
  
"They found you and William's bodies minutes after you died. I was unfortunately still there and they came after me. Soon, he'll die and take my place," he told her.  
  
"What?" she cried.  
  
It was perfect. It was ingenious even. He'd created the perfect murder, and along the way he had found a way to live forever. If you looked at his plan in a sick and demented way that it.  
  
He smiled, "Thank you for another chance at life, Victoria. Especially, as a Charmed one."  
  
"No," she whispered.  
  
Wyatt was going to exchange places alright. Just not with the right person. He was going to end up dead and it was all because of her. Not only had she somehow endangered his life and everyone else, but she had set loose an evil the world wasn't ready to handle. Given time she didn't doubt that Andrew would destroy the world and all she could do was stand and watch it happen. Until his curse killed her, of course.  
  
He shushed her. "Now, now. I'm here with you now."  
  
"No," she repeated feeling as if she were trapped in her own personal hell.  
  
"I risked everything to get back to you."  
  
"Oh, you shouldn't have," she replied, sarcastically.  
  
"I did. For a good reason, I see. You're so much more stronger now. Even more beautiful then in your last life. Looks like I go the best of both worlds," he joked.  
  
"You're sick, you know that? You need to get your head checked."  
  
He nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe so, but I couldn't have dreamed that in this life you'd be exactly what I needed. Too bad Wyatt and I didn't exchange earlier."  
  
"I'm not yours," she reminded him.  
  
"Soon."  
  
"Haven't we had this argument before? Shouldn't you have learned from it? You know you are supposed to evolve from life to life not regress," she told him.  
  
She smiled as she felt him go ridged being her. She knew she had somehow hit a nerve. She'd have to remember that for future reference. Then, he released his sturdy hold over her by pushing her away.  
  
"I should have, but I was planning on one technicality."  
  
"Yeah, well you planned in vain if you thought I'd fall instantly in love with you and ride off into the sunset with your sorry ass," she told him laughing bitterly.  
  
"I didn't plan in vain, Valerie. Or should I say Victoria?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, and why is that?" she asked, sitting on the ledge of the veranda.  
  
"Your bloodlust. It makes you so much more susceptible to me. Even now it's taking all your energy to resist me."  
  
"You bastard!" she cried, angrily trying to dismiss his words.  
  
"Ah, am I lying, Victoria?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.  
  
She shook her head and looked into the black pit around her. The veranda was gone now. They were now in the center of a white plane. There was nothing but them in the white plane. Slowly, it changed though and the sky or whatever you could call it above them bled red down around them until it took a hold of the whole area around them and all that could be seen as far as the eye could see was red.  
  
Her emotions boiled inside of her.  
  
He was right. She knew it and he knew it. Even now being here with him somehow something inside of her had awaken. It was hard to resist this alien feeling inside of her. It was even harder to resist him.  
  
"You missed me, didn't you? I made your life interesting pursuing you like I did. I made you feel alive and you haven't felt like that ever since. Admit you enjoyed the chase," he asked her, seductively.  
  
"You killed my family, my friends, and my fiancé! Everyone I ever cared about you've destroyed. That wasn't interesting that was horrifying!" she cried, getting up and walking into the plane of blood red.  
  
There was something else he had done. Something that he had done recently that she couldn't remember. It had happened fast. It had been why she was still so very angry at him now. It was how he had brought her here, but she couldn't remember it at all. All she could remember was blood on her fingers as she tried to protect herself from him.  
  
There was one other thing more terrorifying to her then not being able to remember past events. It was the longer she was there the harder it was to stay angry with him. It was harder to remember everything that he had done to her. She knew that in their past life he had done something terrible to her and that was how it had all began, but now it was like trying to remember a vague dream she had had years ago. It barely was there.  
  
"Now that was only a wake up call."  
  
"What? Are you really that insane to think I would believe that?" she asked, amused.  
  
"I needed to make you find me again before it was too late. The curse did its purpose. As I recall, you only have a few more moments left of this life. So you'd better choose wisely this time. Now which is it, Victoria? Love me and live to see the rest of your life, or die?" he offered the decision to her coming to stand right in front of her.  
  
She could barely think. Whatever had always made him irresistible to her before was meddling with her again. It was all she could do to even try to think.  
  
"You call everything you did for me love?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, even though you don't see it that way."  
  
"Clearly," she cried.  
  
He softened a moment and took her hand in his, "You're still angry about all their deaths?"  
  
"No duh, Sherlock!"  
  
He laughed and drew over the palm of her hand with his fingertips, "Death comes to everyone. This way it was easier on you. Now, think of everything that you will miss if you choose to die and be buried with them. Think of the life that you would be leaving behind. You can make new friends, Victoria. Together we can even make a family."  
  
"How enticing," she relied. She didn't know if it was a bitter opposing response or not as she looked up into his deep blue eyes.  
  
Instantly, the red glowing plane they were standing in disappeared.  
  
Nature took its place. They both stood in the woods way behind her house. Here she could barely see the veranda.  
  
A small green lake was beside them with small waves churning down the stream that the sun glowed off of. Wind blurred through the leaves of trees and twisted around them as she heard the sounds of animals in the forest. It was soothing her as she looked at the place she knew like the back of her hand.  
  
On the other side of the lake was a child playing. Her reddish brown hair framed her heart shaped face in curls and her blue-violet eyes glowed happily as she crowned the mound of dirt and rocks beside her a majestic castle. Victoria realized slowly that the child she was watching was herself.  
  
It was a creepy thing to realize that.  
  
"Why are you showing me this?" she asked as she turned back to him.  
  
"To prove to you the extent of my love."  
  
"Oh, yeah?"  
  
"Look for yourself," he told her as he waved his hand to the other bank of the lake to where her child self was playing.  
  
Victoria stared at his calm face. It was hard to take her eyes away from his. How could he even love her? He was evil.  
  
A sudden motion grabbed her attention as she looked back at the child version of herself. An evil, ugly goblin was taking her dolls. When she saw her favorite doll, Mindie, being taken she'd had enough. The child version of herself started a tug of war with the ugly green goblin. It was then that there were three other ugly, fast moving and angry goblins that came to the one taking Mindie's defense.  
  
She saw herself cry out as they started to scratch her arms and face in the fight with their insanely long unsanitary claws. It was then that a flash of gold appeared in the woods.  
  
It blinded the child version of herself and she let go of the doll to cover her eyes while the goblins shrieked in pain. Then, the golden light disappeared as well as the goblins.  
  
Her child self looked around the lake in confusion and then got up and ran back to her house with her dollies in tow.  
  
"I was there for you always."  
  
"You've been dead how could you have protected me?" she whispered.  
  
"We both know how resourceful I am. I found a way to follow you in all your lives to be able to protect you from any outside forces."  
  
"Oh, really? Why do that if your curse was going to kill me anyways?"  
  
He touched her cheek gently with his other hand, "I always had hope one day you'd come to your senses."  
  
"But I haven't." she told him. Then she asked. "Did those outside influences include everyone at my wedding?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And you don't feel any guilt for what you've done?"  
  
"It's all been for the greater good."  
  
"Right, the greater good. For being human you take being selfish to a whole new level," she informed him angered at his lack of sanity.  
  
"You thought you loved him, didn't you?" he asked. "That's why you're making this so hard."  
  
As he asked her they appeared again back at the veranda. The very scene of her crime against him for loving someone else. The very place where he had killed everyone she knew who were 'outside forces'.  
  
"I don't know," she said, truthfully.  
  
"You weren't meant to meet him. That was only an accident of fate." he told her quietly.  
  
She laughed, "You were an accident of fate."  
  
The whole time she'd been calling for a weapon. Anything as long as it would kill him. Her powers didn't work though and she was stuck in hell with him. Then, as she looked down at the ground she saw it glint . A knife was hiding in his pocket. Before he could even react she had it in her hand.  
  
Then, she was pressing it to his neck as hard as she could without cutting him yet.  
  
She swore he wouldn't live again. Not if she could help it. Not if she was going to die in this hell too.  
  
"Wait," he told her touching the blade lightly. "Wait."  
  
"Why should I? Like you said I only have a few moments to live in this world. Why not make the most of them and take care of a little unfinished business?" she asked, fiercely.  
  
"Because if you kill me he will never have a chance to return. Then, what will you do? You will be alone again. The companions you've made of the Charmed Ones will turn against you. You will be on your own," he warned.  
  
She knew what he said was true. She was screwed. It was as simple as that. They were all screwed.  
  
Somehow, she was having a hard time figuring out who the Charmed Ones were that he spoke of.  
  
He took the knife quickly and safely from her grip and it disappeared in his hand. All she could do was nothing. Tears of defeat fell down her face as Victoria admitted it to herself. She was alone. The only person in the world that was with her was a murderer of everyone she loved. He was also the only one trying to win her over. Where was the sanity in that?  
  
He touched her tears cascading down her cheeks, "Such a humane thing to do is to cry,"  
  
"What do you expect from me? I'm human!" she cried, pulling away from his touch.  
  
"I know. I intend to use that against you," he replied.


	44. 5,000 Ways To Die

Okay, people. I said this a few chapters ago, but I mean it this time. The story is basically almost all complete. So, read and review and tell me what you think of part one to the two part ending.

THERE IS ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER TO THIS STORY AFTER THIS ONE. SO ENJOY....

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After he'd spoken the familiar place around her disappeared from her sight yet again. No longer was the veranda or her backyard the place he was using to get into her mind as well as her heart. This time as they appeared in a new setting a vague dizziness stayed inside of her mind as she opened her violet-blue eyes to see another memorable place replacing the last.  
  
She was inside of her own bedroom.  
  
It wasn't in the disorder that it had been before when she had last been inside of it. Now, it was perfectly clean. Everything was in its place and none of the white furniture was overturned from the rage she had went through earlier.  
  
She was as well as he was there inside her bedroom and they both were on her bed.  
  
They both were sitting up leaning against the golden headboard that had a few cherubs carved into it cutting into their backs. The white canopy around the bed was drawn and they both saw her bedroom through its filmy white curtains.  
  
The first people she saw were her father and sister in the corner of her room by the bay window.  
  
Her father was sitting on a white rocking chair that he had pulled away from her vanity table and her sister was standing over him. As Victoria watched, Alexis tried to keep him still while she tied his black and white striped tie.  
  
Her poor dad. He hated dressing up. The tie must have been the worst for him since he didn't now how to tie it himself.  
  
Victoria had a hard time focusing on him since in the other corner were two people she knew as well as she did the back of her hand.  
  
Her two best friends, Nora and Beverly, the two brunettes of her little group, were in the other corner making sure they didn't look fat in their mauve bridesmaids dresses as they moved in different angles in front of the mirror. When they were finally aware that they looked just fine they both started to look at all the small pictures and knickknacks around them.  
  
Her sister, Alexis, finally was done with the tying her father's tie and left the room in order to touchup her makeup. Why she needed it Victoria couldn't tell since she looked fine as it was. Her father, on the other hand, stayed standing at the bay window and looking down on the people setting up the last few chairs for the wedding.  
  
An emotion that she couldn't place was written all over his face as he did. Then, he brought himself back to the life around him and left the room.  
  
Victoria slid off the bed.  
  
For the moment, Andrew didn't even exist as her feet hit the cold hardwood floor. She was just happy to see the scene before her eyes without the filmy layer of the canopy covering her sight. Now, she was a part of the room even though she wasn't noticed by her friends.  
  
She didn't mind them not seeing her though. She wanted to see what they were talking about and see how they were dealing with the day. She wanted the uncensored version of their feelings about her wedding day.  
  
Her best friends kept laughing as she leaned against the end of her bed. They picked up a picture off of her vanity as she watched. In it was Victoria on a tire swing at the park laughing wildly. Beside her was a tilted one leg on the ground and the other in the air trying to strike a balance as he clung on the rope for dear life was Andrew. He was smiling at the camera.  
  
It was one of his deliberate smiles he could pull out of no where under any condition.  
  
Nora then sat down the picture and read the wedding invitation hanging off of the mirror. "You have been cordially invited to the wedding ceremony for Victoria Richards and Andrew Weller. Who would have thought she'd get married so young?" she giggled.  
  
Victoria didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. There was something inside of her stomach telling her that something was off here. She couldn't tell what though. The feeling passed as she shook her dizzy head.  
  
Maybe, it was just cold feet.  
  
Deep inside of her she knew better. That her solution was as half ass as her attempts to successfully remember reality. She hated to admit it, but it was so much nicer here then in the real world. It was so much more peaceful here. Here was the place her loved ones were staying in and she didn't want to leave them.  
  
"Mom?" she cried out in surprise as she turned to see the new visitor in the room.  
  
Her mother had entered the room looking like what Victoria might look like in thirty years. She shook her head at Victoria's friends and scolded them. Then, she told them to get outside and help with last minute preparations. They did as they were told and her mother was then left alone in the room with her.  
  
"Mom?" she whispered.  
  
Her mother looked at her, through her, and then she looked towards the bed where another version of Victoria was sleeping.  
  
Her mother was alive here. Her mother who had been dead since she was four- years-old was alive and well. She knew about Victoria's wedding and she was there to be with her at her wedding. It was almost too perfect.  
  
Andrew came off the bed and took her hand in his. "Shh. She can't hear you."  
  
"But... how? She's been dead for years?"  
  
In a dreamy quality, her mother smiled down at her lovingly where another version of herself was still laying on the bed asleep. Then she tapped her arm to wake her up. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead. You've got a big day ahead of you."  
  
She saw herself slowly open her eyes and smile up at her mother and saw her mother ruffle her red hair. Then, she turned away and went over the wedding gown that they had waiting for her to get into. Her mother surveyed the gown and then went over to her vanity where she picked a black jewelry case up off of it.  
  
"I can give you anything you want, Victoria. Everything in the world if you wanted it. Your family, your friends, your home. All you ever knew I can give you back. All you ever wanted you will receive. All you have to do in return is love me." Andrew told her softly.  
  
She watched herself on the bed as she stretched. Then she floated off the bed and went to the bureau and looked at her wedding gown. Her mother came over to her to give her a hug and then she placed the jewelry case into her hands.  
  
The version of Victoria that had just woken up looked at her mother confused and then she opened the case to realize her mother had given her an old pair of pearl earrings that she had worn to her own wedding with Victoria's father.  
  
"My mom is alive?" she asked, slowly.  
  
"Yes, if you agree."  
  
She choked back tears and greedily watched the very sight of her mother as she talked with the other version of herself. This was what she had always wanted to happen. She had always wanted her mother to be there with her on her wedding day and here she was in flesh and blood.  
  
Before her she saw her wedding day start itself. It was surreal and tainted. She didn't know if it was as tainted in a bad way now that she had her mother there with her.  
  
Yet before her was all she'd ever wanted. For using the curse to destroy her life, Andrew had brought back all the missing pieces that had incidentally been taken away. He was trying to win her over. He was trying to make amends for what the curse had destroyed in her life.  
  
She had to admit it was working.  
  
"Am I dreaming?"  
  
He turned her to him. "Be like me. Be with me. The world can't stop us from having what we want, Victoria. We both know that."  
  
There had to be some form of remorse in his actions. He'd brought everything she'd wanted to her. He'd found the people she wanted and had them here to be with her. He was willing to give her anything she wanted in the world.  
  
She would be a queen. He would favor her and bestow everything she wanted to her. He would complete her. He was like the other half of her soul. He was the darkness in her soul that she'd been living in that very day. How could she never have seen that before?  
  
In any life, he'd always been the one she'd turned to. The only one she'd ever found a place with. He had always been the one who understood her and was happy with her for being herself. He was hers as much as she was his.  
  
So why not be a queen? Why not let him have her? She would gain everything she had lost and then she'd have a life she'd never lived before. She would be able to grow old and die normally.  
  
Maybe she was supposed to evolve with him. Maybe that's what she hadn't learned before in her other life.  
  
"Be with me," he said lastly in a quiet plea.  
  
She looked into his blue eyes confused. Whatever she had been thinking throughout the whole time she had been there rushed out of her mind and into the world around them. For a second, she even forgot where she was.  
  
Then, when she looked at him and saw his hard blue eyes pleading with hers she knew she was there for a reason. Why was he asking her this now? He had her. They were together.  
  
"With you? But.. Why shouldn't I be with you?"  
  
"My feelings exactly." he laughed. His arms wrapped around her as he swept her up and whirled her in the air for a moment.  
  
"Now, kiss me." he told her bringing her back down to the ground.  
  
She looked at him and smiled dreamily, "Is that an order?"  
  
"Yes, now do it!"  
  
She smiled, her eyebrows raising in amusement, and then she leaned into him to give him a kiss. In a matter of moments he'd won her. The kiss and her words would seal the deal.  
  
He could barely even believe it.  
  
Of course his pleasure was delayed when a dark figure interrupted them by smashing them apart. Their lips had barely even touched when something he hadn't counted on appeared and knocked both of them apart in different directions.  
  
His brother had arrived.  
  
It had taken forever to find them. Limbo was huge. The only way Chris had known they were there was the fact that the whole place was set up to look like Victoria's home. He'd known then that his mother's assumption had been right about Andrew.  
  
He hadn't known how right until he had saw them.  
  
They'd been in her room and at first it had looked like Victoria was ignoring him. It had looked as if she were trying to fight the place to keep her memory. Then, he'd seen her face. It had been completely filled with hope especially when her mother had arrived in the room. It was a hope that he could only figure as to that her mother had been dead for a long time before the curse had destroyed her wedding day and that bringing her mother into the picture had really sealed the deal for Andrew.  
  
He'd been holding back for awhile. He didn't really have a plan. All he knew was that he was to get the ring off of Andrew. Back home, his mother and his aunts were going to use the scrying crystal where it was on the map and chant the spell that right now Paige was writing.  
  
He had believed he'd be able to do all of that himself, but his mother had disagreed.  
  
The only way she would let him even go there was if they would chant the spell. She didn't think he could handle doing everything especially after what had happened to him before.  
  
Chris knew better though. He knew better this time because he wouldn't see Wyatt when he looked at him he would see Andrew hiding away in his big brother's body like a coward. This time it would be different because this was the final fight. This was the last time Andrew would be alive on earth let alone with Victoria. He'd make sure of that.  
  
So, he had wandered around Limbo for awhile trying to find them or even trying to figure out where to go to get to them. It wasn't exactly like Victoria was screaming or they were battling the whole time so he had nothing to really go off of. He couldn't even search for her soul there because the place was packed with other souls.  
  
Somehow, he had stumbled upon the place they were though and he had come in at a bad time.  
  
When he had come into the place he had seen the exact replicate of Victoria's bedroom at her home. He even saw all the people in her life that mattered as they went through the motions. He'd realized then that Andrew had done the most ingenious thing that day by recreating her wedding day only having himself play the biggest part in it by being the groom.  
  
He'd seen her face when her mother had appeared in the room. At first, he hadn't known who she was, but the way Victoria was acting around her he soon realized it.  
  
He'd also realized that he had to get in there before anything big happened.  
  
His intuition had been right because when Andrew had come up behind her and asked her to be with him she hadn't fought him like she would have normally. The place had really gotten to her. She didn't even seem to have any problem with the man who was at fault for killing her family and soon herself.  
  
She was smiling up at Andrew as if she really did love him. It had made Chris sick. He hated Andrew then for that. He hated Andrew for having to use trickery and a curse to keep Victoria with him. That wasn't love he had towards her that was lust.  
  
He didn't know what it was really that would break the curse. She had said love. So he guessed a kiss maybe or even the most popular three words in the world would break the spell. So, when he had heard Andrew order her to kiss him and she had been willing to he had known he had to stop her.  
  
He knew that if he didn't she would actually have broken the curse possibly with the kiss. But he also had a feeling that it wouldn't just be a kiss. He had a feeling that if she kissed Andrew he had a lot more ridding on the moment then breaking the damned curse. Possibly, he was going to cast a spell on her that would keep her love for him inside of her making her possessed by him to only do his biding.  
  
Chris didn't want to sit around for the time being and find out.  
  
So instead of just going in there, finding them, and calling for the ring to be orbed to him he had done the only thing he could to break them apart. He had flung himself straight at them as their lips touched. He pushed Victoria as far away from Andrew as possible.  
  
Incidentally, throwing her right through the ghostly version of herself and her mother as he did so. She fell onto the ground hitting the bureau hard, but Chris knew he couldn't pay attention to her anymore. He had to keep all his attention on Andrew. He had a feeling Andrew would do anything to get rid of him.  
  
Andrew he saw he had pushed straight into her vanity table. Andrew and the table fell to the floor where the glass from the mirror broke all around him on the floor. Andrew instead of looking hurt looked up at Chris with an annoyed look and smiled bitterly as his suspicions were confirmed of who had broken the two of them apart.  
  
"What part of do not disturb don't you get, brother?" he asked, as he got up. Andrew didn't even bother to notice the fact that his hands were bleeding from the jagged slivers of glass he'd had to lean on while he got to his feet.  
  
"The part where you kidnapped my girl." Chris replied.  
  
"Your girl? She was always my girl. You just tried to take her from me very chance you got. Every lifetime you could," Andrew told him as they started to circle each other like wolves.  
  
"Maybe she was yours once, but she changed her mind when she figured out who you really are. You're just jealous she could never love you like she does me," Chris said.  
  
"Jealous? I had her first, brother. You were the jealous one so you stole her from me."  
  
"She came to me. She wanted me more then she wanted you. She loved me and all she did was like you. Why else would you have to bring her to Limbo, huh? You had to screw with her mind just to get her to be willing enough to be with you." Chris told him disgusted.  
  
It was then that Andrew flew at him and Chris knew that it wouldn't be an easy fight.


	45. The End

Victoria was smiling up at Andrew as if she really did love him.  
  
It had made Chris sick. He hated Andrew then for that. He hated Andrew for having to use trickery and a curse to keep Victoria with him. That wasn't love he had towards her that was lust.  
  
He didn't know what it was really that would break the curse. She had said love. So he guessed a kiss maybe or even the most popular three words in the world would break the spell.  
  
So, when he had heard Andrew order her to kiss him and she had been willing to he had known he had to stop her. He knew that if he didn't she would actually have broken the curse possibly with the kiss. But he also had a feeling that it wouldn't just be a kiss.  
  
He had a feeling that if she kissed Andrew he had a lot more riding on the moment then breaking the damned curse. Possibly, he was going to cast a spell on her that would keep her love for him inside of her making her possessed by him to only do his biding. Chris didn't want to sit around for the time being and find out. So instead of just going in there, finding them, and calling for the ring to be orbed to him he had done the only thing he could to break them apart.  
  
He had flung himself straight at them as their lips touched.  
  
He pushed Victoria as far away from Andrew as possible. Incidentally, throwing her right through the ghostly version of herself and her mother as he did so. She fell onto the ground hitting the bureau hard. The ghost version of her mother and herself instantly disappeared.  
  
Chris knew he couldn't pay attention to her anymore. He had to keep all his attention on Andrew. He had a feeling Andrew would do anything to get rid of him.  
  
Andrew, he saw, he had pushed straight into her vanity table. Andrew and the table fell to the floor where the glass from the mirror crashing like the oceans tide on the beach as it broke all around him on the floor. Andrew instead of looking hurt looked up at Chris with an annoyed look and smiled bitterly as his suspicions were confirmed of who had broken the two of them apart.  
  
"What part of do not disturb don't you get, brother?" he asked, as he got up.  
  
Andrew didn't even bother to notice the fact that his hands were bleeding from the jagged slivers of glass he'd had to lean on while he got to his feet. He just got up and mad himself ready to kill his little brother for the last time.  
  
"The part where you kidnapped my girl." Chris replied.  
  
"Your girl? She was always my girl. You just tried to take her from me very chance you got. Every lifetime you could," Andrew told him as they started to circle each other like wolves.  
  
"Maybe she was yours once, but she changed her mind when she figured out who you really were. You're just jealous she could never love you like she does me," Chris said.  
  
"Jealous? I had her first, brother. You were the jealous one so you stole her from me."  
  
"She came to me. She wanted me more then she wanted you. She loved me and all she did was like you. Why else would you have to bring her to Limbo, huh? You had to screw with her mind just to get her to be willing enough to be with you." Chris told him disgusted.  
  
It was then that Andrew flew at him and Chris knew that it wouldn't be an easy fight.  
  
Andrew hit Chris hard in the face, and while he was doubled over in pain Andrew went to hit him again, but Chris deflected his next hit. Then, Andrew chose another form of action to get rid of Chris. He used his telekinesis to throw the canopy bed lying against the wall straight at Chris.  
  
"Shit!" Chris cried as he saw the bed coming straight at him.  
  
He instinctively backed up a few feet as the canopy bed rambled on towards him. He then used his telekinesis to stop it. It stopped in its tracks for a second, but it slowly started to move again against his powers.  
  
He quickly glanced over at Andrew who was waiting on the other side of the room. His arms crossed over his body while he waited for his power to take over the bed, corrupt Chris's powers, and trample Chris's body into a bloody pulp.  
  
Chris looked away towards the bed which was gradually coming towards him faster as it went through his powers.  
  
Great. I'm in trouble now, he thought.  
  
Then, he looked for Victoria. She was there on beside the bay window in the room watching him as he tried to keep the bed from killing him. There, she was watching barely even caring.  
  
Her face was blank. It was like she didn't even care he was going to die. It was like she didn't even know him. It was also like she was bored with the whole incident.  
  
He felt his powers fail as did his hope to get her on his side and he jumped out of the way of the bed as it flew into the wall behind him hard. He had made it out of the beds way with only the slightest of clippings of his ankle from the backboard and then he fell to the floor hard.  
  
Andrew quickly made his way over to him where he lay and started to choke him with his telekinesis.  
  
Nothing was going as Chris had planned. He'd thought it would be easier then this. He'd thought that he would just sneak in and get to Andrew when he had his attention turned towards Victoria.  
  
Of course, she hadn't acted at all like he'd expected her to act. He had expected her to struggle at least and try to get away, but from what he had seen she was beyond willing to be there.  
  
No, this wasn't going to be easy to get out of. Of course, he was to blame for that one. If he had just orbed the ring to him and then used his telekinesis to throw apart Andrew and Victoria then things may have been looking up around now. Of course, he hadn't been expecting to find them in each others arms about to make out. That had really played on his feelings and his anger had got into his way by making him go and do things without thinking about the aftermath.  
  
Now, he had to deal with this.  
  
Instantly, Chris threw a nearby lamp at Andrew's head to get his attention off of him for a moment so he could get to his feet. It hit Andrew square in the back of the head. Andrew stopped for a moment and was taken aback for a second then he seemed to recover quickly from the impact.  
  
I always knew he had a thick head, Chris thought.  
  
Chris, in that second that he had while Andrew was recovering, used his telekinesis to throw Andrew back towards the wall. Andrew hit it but got up just as quickly. As he did, the room shook like Limbo was experiencing an earthquake. Everything around them faded for a moment to look like they were in a black void or a black hole in the middle of space.  
  
Instantly, it was replaced though by Victoria's room around them again.  
  
It didn't take a genius to realize that with all three of them still being alive and using a lot of their powers there in Limbo it was causing it to start to act up. Plus, the power that Andrew was using so easily to try to kill Chris was being taken away from the magic he was using to glamour the whole place into being Victoria's last place of residence.  
  
If Andrew kept it up for much longer she would soon see that he had nothing real to really offer her. Andrew stopped in his tracks and looked at the room as it appeared again around them.  
  
"Looks like your little paradise island is going faster the you expected." Chris told him with a smile of victory.  
  
Chris then took the opportunity to silently call for Andrew's ring.  
  
It instantly orbed into his hand as he did. He then orbed a replacement ring straight onto Andrew's finger so that he wouldn't notice he was defenseless and so Wyatt would be coming back into his own body soon to kick Andrew's sorry ass back into the past where his death awaited him. Chris quickly stuck the ring inside of the pocket of his pants as he saw Andrew barreling at him again.  
  
"Let's settle this already, brother!" Andrew yelled.  
  
"Let's," Chris agreed.  
  
They both grabbed stuff telekinetically to hurl at each other again.  
  
As they did, Wyatt was angry, tired, and pissed off that he was stuck in the past. He had finally found refuge though in an old church.  
  
He quickly went into the church where he hoped that P. Bowen and P. Baxter weren't going to follow. He doubted that they were far behind since they knew the area well and knew the possible places he could hide.  
  
For now, he was willing to overlook that fact so he could try to hide away there while he tried to keep himself alive and in one piece while he waited for his family to find a way to bring him back to them. That is, if they hadn't been hurt or killed by evil past life Wyatt. His breath caught in his throat at the last thought.  
  
He took a moment to survey the inside of the church as he did. Shadows were everywhere being fed by the little light that a million candles flames were displaying. White candles that had been placed going up and down the aisles as well as in the front of the church that were giving off the rare effect of peace inside of the silent church. The dark wooded aisles were barren and it was still in the church. In the very front of the pastors stand where the bible rested was a large stained glass picture of Jesus praying at a rock.  
  
Wyatt looked at it quietly. Right now he probably needed as many prayers and as much hope as possible to get through this night. He collapsed down on a nearby pew and rubbed his blue eyes gingerly.  
  
He was so tired. It had been a long day and now it was getting even more long the more he ran from the cousins. He just wanted to be home already with his own family. He never really thought he would he'd ever want to be with his family as much as he did now.  
  
Wyatt took a deep breath, and looked up to heaven. There he quietly begged the Elders to get their act together and get his butt back where it belonged. Of course, he knew better.  
  
They never did anything productive. All they ever did was look down their noses on people and do things for the greater good. He never had understood how they could decide the greater good when they themselves had never been human and had never had a family or cared for any living person.  
  
He hated them for being hypocrites.  
  
Wyatt got to his feet, the whole time he wanted to just lay on the pew and sleep, but he knew better. They were after him and they weren't going to just let him go so easily.  
  
He started to turn towards the door when a noise alerted him to someone else being in the church with him. Before he could do anything to defend himself he felt a spray of ice fly over him.  
  
Seconds later, he realized that P. Bowen had just frozen his legs in place so he couldn't run from them anymore. He also realized that they were going to torture him for information and that was the only reason why he was alive right now.  
  
While, back in the present time, Andrew deflected a desk flying at him and threw it straight back at Chris. Before it could even make any contact with him Chris orbed out of the room. Then, he instantly orbed right back in as Andrew angrily searched for him.  
  
He orbed right back in to get hit with a large glass mirror that had once been the bathroom door. He flew onto his back crying out as he did and protecting his face as the glass shards shivered out of their containment and over his body.  
  
Chris shook underneath the remnants of the mirror as he realized he had been cut up pretty badly. Andrew sure did know how to inflict pain.  
  
Andrew didn't wait a second to see if Chris was getting up to fight him again. He went straight over to him and placed his large, heavy foot on top of a glass shard that was slightly sticking out of Chris's stomach. Chris cried out in pain as blackness and red spots filled his vision.  
  
He had a feeling he was going to die in Limbo and what better of a place to be when he was to die, but he tried to stay in his body as the pain filtered through it. He hung onto his life fiercely.  
  
Andrew, seeing that Chris would always be too stubborn to admit defeat, pressed his foot down harder on the glass shard and let all of his body weight go down on it.  
  
Chris cried out again as red filled his whole vision. No longer did he see red spots. They now had totally corrupted the color of his sight of the room and Andrew as he tried to inflict as much pain as well as wounds to his body.  
  
With the last of his sanity sparking through the pain, Chris flipped Andrew off of his feet with his telekinesis and watched as Andrew flew onto the floor. There he laughed a blood spattered laugh as he saw Andrew groan in the pain he had inflicted on him.  
  
Five points for defense, Chris thought wildly through the pain. He then used his hands to pull at the shard of glass in his stomach. He knew that if he took it out he would die from blood loss, but then he also knew that if he didn't Andrew would get back up and push it all the way through his body and that would kill him too.  
  
"Looks like I win again, doesn't it, brother?" Andrew asked, as he got up and brushed himself off.  
  
Chris cried out as the shard of glass in his stomach was joined with another that slammed into his weakened body by Andrew's telekinesis.  
  
Andrew laughed at Chris's pain and turned to Victoria, "Victoria, my nymphet, come here and see what we do to traitors."  
  
Victoria came slowly over to him. She stepped over Chris's body to get to him and there she looked over Chris warily.  
  
"Now where were we?" he asked her placing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him.  
  
"No, Victoria! Don't let him near you." Chris cried out from the floor. He reached out a hand towards her, but she only regarded it in confusion. Damn this place, he cursed. Damn it for destroying her memory and replacing it with Andrew's corrupt version of her life.  
  
"Victoria, kiss me," Andrew said wrapping his arms around her body.  
  
He wanted his brother to witness the birth of a new era. He wanted his brother to choke on his last breath knowing that Victoria had made her choice and it was Andrew. It was to be evil and not be good.  
  
"No, Victoria. Please," Chris cried, trying to save her the best way he could by getting her to remember what she had forgotten. "He's tricking you, don't you see it? He isn't the one you were going to marry it was Mark. Remember, Mark? You met him on an airplane because of a typo? He isn't going to give you what he promised. He's evil. All he wants is to keep you for himself no matter how much he destroys you in the process!"  
  
She looked at him with no recognition in her beautiful violet-blue eyes. "Andrew, who is he? What is he talking about?" she asked. Then, drawing her arm in his she asked, "Should we kill him?"  
  
Andrew gave Chris an angry look for even going into his business trying to get Victoria to remember what she had forgotten. Then, he smiled sneakily down at her when she had proposed that they kill Chris off.  
  
Chris couldn't believe she had said it. He had a feeling a lot more had happened while he was gone trying to save her then he knew about. A lot more must have happened since she seemed to be willing to just kill him off with a flick of her hand.  
  
Andrew laughed down at her as she looked up at him like a child waiting to please their parent. He liked the way her mind worked. He liked her mind even more because she had just said the last thing that his brother would have ever expected form her.  
  
He had changed her. Now, his brother had to deal with knowing that for the last moments of his existence.  
  
Then, Andrew used his index finger and his thumb to bring her face back to his. "He's no one. Don't worry about him he'll be dead soon enough."  
  
She nodded barely caring as a smile passed over her rose colored lips.  
  
"Kiss me." he whispered to her again. He knew her time was coming to a close and he wanted more then anything to save her from the curse. He also wanted more then saving her from the curse to feel her lips on his again and to hear the three words he'd been waiting a few lifetimes for.  
  
She leaned forward towards him, but he changed his mind on what he wanted from her and pressed his fingertips to her lips.  
  
"No, wait. Tell me first."  
  
"What do you want to hear?" she asked, pouting at him.  
  
"You know I've been waiting centuries for you to say these words to me." he told her.  
  
For the moment, it almost seemed as if they were the only ones in the world. Besides of course the coughing rasps that were coming from his brother's mouth. Instantly, Andrew shut his brother up by closing his mouth from making the awful dying noises he was making by using his telekinesis on Chris. In the silence his grin grew. Now, that was better.  
  
"Yes?" she asked, coyly.  
  
"Agree to be like me. Be evil with me, you have to agree." he told her quickly.  
  
He wanted to hear it from her very lips. He wanted to know victory was in store for him.  
  
"Is that necessary Andrew?"  
  
"Yes, it is to me."  
  
"I..." she said slowly.  
  
"Say you love me," he whispered his forehead to hers.  
  
She took a breath and frowned. "Andrew, why?"  
  
"Say you love me. Now!" he ordered.  
  
Somewhere in the distance an unseen clock was chiming. _One_ chime past between them as she searched her eyes with his. What he didn't know was that she had never said 'I love you' to anyone before. So saying it now under his orders was a hard thing to do.  
  
Especially, when she didn't carry the words lightly. She looked at him as he watched her fiercely waiting in his expectations of her announcement.  
  
_Two_ chimes past.  
  
"Andrew." she started  
  
_Three_ chimes and then _four_ chimes past in the silence.  
  
She vaguely remembered something big was going to happen at midnight, but she couldn't remember what exactly that it was.  
  
He quickly pressed her shoulders hard with his fingers digging into her skin making her cry out. "You can't go back now, Victoria."  
  
_Five, six, seven_ chimes drilled through the air around them.  
  
"You can't go back now, Victoria. You will never be like them. Can't you see that? Stop trying to be good like them and be evil. Lose your inhibitions and be with me. It's so much easier to be evil, Victoria."  
  
_Eight_ chimes flew through the air around them.  
  
"It takes too much away from you to be good." he kept on telling her trying to make her agree with him.  
  
"I know." she said finally.  
  
"I knew you'd come around."  
  
_Nine_ chimes came from the invisible clock.  
  
"It's hard not to. You drive a hard bargain. Offering me my life back and all." she told him intertwining their fingers as she smiled up at him shyly.  
  
"I know."  
  
"I've never seen my 19th b-day before." she realized as she agreed to life with him.  
  
_Ten_ chimes corrupted the air around them.  
  
"Prove to me you love me." he said, quickly as he realized how quickly time was passing.  
  
She quickly kissed Andrew passionately letting the kiss let through all the feelings of hope and happiness infiltrate it. She wanted to make him feel exactly what she was feeling. This was the only way she knew how.  
  
As Victoria kissed Andrew fiercely, the Charmed Ones gave each other one last look and then recited the spell to get Piper's son and their nephew home safely.  
  
They hoped that Chris had had enough time in Limbo and that Chris was okay wherever he was, but they didn't know for sure. They could only hope as they said the words over and over again three times to make sure it would work.  
  
"Hear my words, hear my cry, Open now times great divide, Switch back the soul who's in the time he does not reside, Bring back the soul whose time is not now to die."  
  
In the past life, Wyatt stood stonily. He had almost been all the way frozen by the cousins since he didn't answer the questions that he was asked.  
  
One minute he was there and feeling death over his shoulder laughing at him for getting himself in this problem and the next he didn't know what was happening. He felt the ice slowly descend over his head in order to kill him and then it stopped.  
  
Instead of feeling like the ground was coming up to hit him he felt as if he were being torn away from his body. At first, he thought he had died already and hadn't realized it. Then, he'd felt like he was flying in a roller coaster as time ripped past him.  
  
He saw time and memories he hadn't remembered in years replay themselves through his life like it were only yesterday. He saw his first birthday, his first day of school, and Chris and him playing at the park with their parents, and other memories of his life sparked through his brain quickly.  
  
As instantly as it had all begun he felt like he was being ripped down from the sky he'd been flying in and forced back into his body. As he entered his body he felt Andrew screaming as he was being ripped out of it. He knew where Andrew was going and he knew it wouldn't be pretty, but he didn't care.  
  
He was alive and he was in his own time and that was all that mattered. Of course that was when he realized he was doing something he had never expected to be doing.  
  
He was kissing Victoria. She was kissing him back. She was a very good kisser.  
  
He quickly pulled away from her not knowing what had happened between them and not really wanting to know because usually the answer in witchcraft was even more screwed up. As he pulled away from her kiss he saw her violet- blue eyes open to see him. It was then that he saw something inside of her that scared him.  
  
He pulled farther away from her as he gasped for breath. It was deadly whatever was inside of her eyes. He'd seen that very look in demons eyes when they killed people. It was a cold and inhumane look that had never been there before.  
  
What had happened while he was away? Because right then he had a feeling he was looking into the eyes of a bloodthirsty murderer. He took a step away from her as confusion went over her ethereal face.  
  
What had happened here?  
  
_Eleven_ chimes past through the room from the clock.  
  
Wyatt looked around at the room around him to see a beautiful bedroom that looked like a princesses. The only thing that was wrong with it was the fact that it looked like a war had gone on inside of it.  
  
It looked deadly with broken furniture and glass shards all over the place around them. In the middle of it was Victoria barely even noticing the chaos the room was in, but instead looking at him questioningly.  
  
_Twleve_ chimes went through the room as fate caught up with them. Victoria, who had been looking at him in worry a moment ago, at the end of the last chime, started coughing.  
  
She was coughing so hard that it didn't even look as if she were breathing. She looked at him and reached out an arm to him, but before he could take it she fell. Wyatt quickly ran the few feet to her and caught her before she could hit the floor.  
  
She kept coughing harder and harder in his arms as tears filled her violet- blue eyes. She looked up at him with all the fear of a dying woman and he realized then that a day had went by without him in it and she was dying in his arms because of the curse.  
  
She's dying he realized as he held onto her.  
  
Her coughing stopped ragging through her body, but now was replaced with her gasping for air that didn't seem to be coming. Invisible hands seemed to be choking her as he watched her dying in his arms.  
  
He had been through too much that day to lose this fight. He had been thrown into his past life where he had literally ran for his life, and he sure as hell wasn't going to lose her now because death wanted her.  
  
He surveyed the room looking for something.  
  
Looking for the ring he'd had that would save her from the godforsaken curse, but he didn't see it anywhere. There was no time to switch the curse onto someone else's shoulders either. If he didn't find the ring she was dead. He looked around again trying to find it. Then he saw a bloody Chris lying on the floor staring at them.  
  
His brother looked deep into his eyes sending him the message that he was looking for.  
  
Chris had the ring. Wyatt looked down into Chris's bloody hand and saw the ring lying there in it. Chris, knowing that there wasn't any time to spare, threw the quartz crystal ring straight at Wyatt with his last ounce of strength so that he could put the ring on her finger as quickly as possible.  
  
"Hurry." Chris told him in a voice barely above a whisper.  
  
Wyatt quickly put the ring onto her wedding ring finger and then watched to see what would happen. Hoping that this was the right thing to give her and that it wouldn't hurt her anymore then she was already hurting.  
  
An instant glow of red light surrounded her body.  
  
Wyatt couldn't help it, but he couldn't hold onto her as the red light vibrated through her dying body. She slowly fell to the ground as if in slow motion and when she hit it the red light broke out of her body and slammed up towards the sky.  
  
Wyatt backed up a few feet and collapsed beside his little brother as they watched the red light glow around her. A moment later, the red light disappeared and the room was turned into the black void it actually was. Wyatt looked on in silence along with Chris as they watched her.  
  
Victoria laid on the floor of the room not moving with her body sprawled straight out in the way she had fallen. At first, Wyatt thought she was dead and they had lost the fight, but then he saw the sudden rise and fall of her chest as she took in her first breath of air.  
  
When he realized she was okay he turned to his brother and instantly used his telekinesis to take out the shards of glass inside of him. Then, after Chris had cried out in pain he started healing him.  
  
His brother, he had to admit, had taken it pretty hard. As he healed Chris he also had to admit as he saw all the cuts and bruises and felt his own pain vibrating through his body he hadn't been the only one. Obviously, Chris had given Andrew quite a beating too.  
  
Good for you, Chris, he congratulated his little brother silently. Realizing that his brother could be just as powerful as he could in that moment of time.  
  
"What? You think you could take on the whole evil community while I was away?" Wyatt asked, lightly as he finished healing his little brother.  
  
"No, just you," Chris replied. "Thanks, Wyatt. Right?"  
  
"Right. I'm back and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." he told his brother.  
  
"Nice to finally see you again." Chris told him as Wyatt helped Chris up onto his feet.  
  
"Is she.." Chris asked a minute later as they both stood over Victoria.  
  
"She's fine. Just asleep somehow. I'm thinking this is where sleeping beauty comes into play." Wyatt told his brother referring to the end of Sleeping Beauty when her prince comes and wakes her with a kiss.  
  
"Yeah, well I hope I'm prince charming then." Chris replied, in a ragged voice.  
  
Chris then kneeled down beside her. There he looked over her peaceful face as he brushed her soft reddish-brown hair away form her pale face. He didn't want to wake her. She was so peaceful wherever she was with whatever she was dreaming about.  
  
He didn't want to wake her to the reality around her. For a moment, he wanted to stay that way forever. He wanted to be watching over her as she slept peacefully unaware of the real world around her. He wanted to stay the prince in the fairy tale that woke up the beautiful princess in the castle and they lived happily ever after.  
  
He doubted that would ever happen since he was the son of a Charmed One and life was never easy or nice to him or the people he loved. I'll protect you, he vowed quietly to her. Then he bent down beside her and kissed her softly on her rose colored lips.  
  
He didn't know what to expect when she woke up. He didn't know if she would remember anything or if she would try to kill him. He didn't want to think about it now. He just kissed her softly hoping she would wake up the one that he loved not the evil girl that Andrew had tried to convert her to.  
  
As he kissed her softly she opened her violet eyes to see the world around her.  
  
She was alive. Somehow she was still alive and the curse had been defeated! She was here on earth still and now... she looked up to see Chris kissing her and she kissed him back. She was with Chris and they were okay and they were alive together. Everything was okay. Somehow everything was okay. She looked up at him as the kiss ended and realized she was getting a second chance to live.  
  
She had never seen the day she was waking up to before and she didn't know how to react to it.  
  
"Hey." he whispered down at her as she looked into his blazing green eyes.  
  
"Hey." she replied, smiling. She wanted to laugh, scream, cry, run around, and jump. All she could do was look up at him as she laid on the cold floor and see his beautiful green eyes gazing down on hers. Somehow that was the best thing for her to do at that moment.  
  
"You okay?" he asked, as he sat back.  
  
"Yeah, what.. What happened?"  
  
"Long, long, long story." he said slowly to emphasize the fact he didn't really know how to handle telling it to her at the moment.  
  
"Where are we?" she asked, as she sat up slowly in the dizziness  
  
"You're in Limbo." he told her  
  
"Nice one. Now really where?"  
  
"Limbo," he told her again and she realized he wasn't lying.  
  
"Wow, you really went to hell and back for me," she whispered in surprise.  
  
"Believe me, I know."  
  
"Okay, I believe you," she said as she shakily made it to her feet and saw Wyatt standing to their side.  
  
"Oh, shit." She quickly pushed Chris behind her in order for her to protect him from whatever was going to happen. Chris laughed as he realized what she was doing and was happy to see she remembered what had happened as well as the fact that even now she was willing to protect him.  
  
"No, it's okay. It's Wyatt now." he told her coming around her and throwing an arm around her tense shoulders.  
  
"You sure?" she asked.  
  
"Hell yeah, I'm sure," he responded.  
  
She looked at Wyatt for a moment. Whatever she saw as she looked at him had verified what Chris said was true. "Welcome back." she said to him.  
  
Wyatt stood in place a bit shocked. He realized then that that was the closest thing to her being okay with him that she was going to give him for the moment.  
  
"Guess what?" Chris asked her to interrupt the silence around them.  
  
"What?" she responded holding onto the hand that was wrapped around her shoulders.  
  
"It's 12:05." he told her showing her the watch he was wearing, "You survived February 17th to see another day. So, how does it feel?"  
  
She gaped at him for a moment and then quickly hugged him in excitement. Holding onto him as hard as he held onto her, she laughed into his shoulder.  
  
She had survived. It was nice to know that something had gone right for once in her life. She knew now that it would be okay somehow. Sure she didn't have her family to fall back on or even the life she had used to know, but she had her life. She was able to live the way she was supposed.  
  
She had never lived a day past February 17th, but here she was.  
  
She was still breathing. She had a chance at a life she had never had before. It was scary as hell, but she'd deal with it. Chris held onto Victoria as she laughed into his shoulder. He couldn't even guess how it felt to know that you were alive and that for the first time in your life you were going to live longer then you ever had before. He knew one thing though. He wanted to get out of Limbo as fast as he could before anything else happened and he wanted to be alone with Victoria.  
  
Chris gave Wyatt a look that asked what Wyatt was going to do. Wyatt merely shrugged his shoulders and smiled at his little brother. He could tell a thing or two that was going through his little brother's mind. Then, Wyatt made a move with his hand that told Chris to go already.  
  
Chris nodded at his older brother and smiled.  
  
"I'm glad your back, Wyatt." Chris told him.  
  
Then, they orbed away from Limbo in a trail of blue and white lights. As soon as the blue and white orbs disappeared Wyatt took a sigh of relief. He looked around the black hole around him and worried silently.  
  
This was where it had all went down. This had almost been the last moments of Victoria's life. Instead of feeling the feelings he'd had before of loving Victoria his feelings now were corrupted. He knew one thing his little brother didn't.  
  
He had seen something inside of Victoria's eyes that Chris would never see or else never acknowledge.  
  
He had seen the eyes of a killer.  
  
He knew that in the time that she had been stuck in Limbo with Andrew something had happened to her. Something very bad and it was still dominating her. He knew one thing he wished he didn't know about her now.  
  
He knew one thing that scared the hell out of him. It scared him for his little brother and for his family and for whoever Victoria came into contact with because she was so powerful.  
  
He knew that in the last minutes she'd had alive with Andrew she had turned evil.  
  
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Well, okay everyone what did you think? This was my first ever story so be kind. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed and to anyone who still is going to review. Thanks, you are awesome. Also, I know this is a bit of a cliff hanger so I am proud to announce that there will be a sequel. It's called DON'T FEAR THE REAPER. Hopefully, I can get that out to you all sometime soon, but for now leave your reviews and tell me how you liked the story. 


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